Yip Pin Xiu stays dominant in retaining 2nd world championships gold
SINGAPORE — Singapore para-swimmer Yip Pin Xiu clinched her second gold medal at the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships, retaining her title in the women's 50m backstroke (S2) in Funchal, Portugal on Friday (17 June).
The 30-year-old clocked 1min 3.94sec to finish more than seven seconds ahead of silver medallist Angela Procida of Italy. Mexico's Fabiola Ramirez Martinez came in third.
This is Yip's fifth gold at the world championships. She had won two golds in the 2019 edition in the 100m and 50m backstroke (S2) events, and another in the 50m freestyle (S3) event back in 2010 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
Unlike her first gold won on Tuesday, in which she smashed the championship record for the women's 100m backstroke (S2) event, Yip could not break the nine-year-old record of 1:03.21 set by Ukraine's Ganna Ielisavetska for the shorter race.
Nonetheless, by retaining both her world titles, Yip has served notice to her rivals that she is still the one to beat as she gears up towards defending her Paralympic golds in the same races at Paris in 2024.
She has been dominant in the women's backstroke (S2) events since 2016, setting the world records for the 50m and 100m en route to winning golds at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, and then retaining both golds at last year's Tokyo edition.
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