Para swimmer Sümeyye Boyacı wins gold for Turkey in Lignano Sabbiadoro 2021 World Series

Sümeyye Boyacı has powered to victory in the women’s 50-meter backstroke in the World Para Swimming World Series in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy.

She won in a time of 43.83 – nearly a full second faster than the swim that brought her gold at the World Swimming championships in 2019.

Boyacı, 18, was competing in the third of the five leg World Series in Lignano Sabbiadoro. The two day tournament is part of the international build-up to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, which are taking place later this year.

Boyacı’s teammate Sevilay Öztürk won silver in the same race in a time of 45.97, resulting in Turkey taking the top two positions on the winners’ podium.

The pair picked up more medals in the women’s junior 200-meter freestyle. Boyacı was runner-up taking silver with a time of 03.23.51, while Öztürk collected a bronze with her swim of 03.30.77.

Turkish swimming champions in Italy (l-r): Sevilay Öztürk, Koral Berkin Kutlu & Sümeyye Boyacı

A total of eight Turkish swimmers competed in Italy, four men and four women: Sümeyye Boyacı, Sevilay Öztürk, Nil Şahin, and Elif İldem, along with Beytullah Eroğlu, Koral Berkin Kutlu, Mustafa Şar, and Uğur Şenel for the men.

The team won a spectacular haul of fourteen medals between them: five gold medals, seven silvers, and two bronze.

Other notable swims included those by Koral Berkin Kutlu. He won silver in the men’s 200-meter freestyle final in a time of 02.58.42 on Saturday, followed by a gold by default in the 50-meter butterfly the next day, after being the sole competitor in the race.

 

Main image, top, of Sümeyye Boyacı at the World Para Swimming World Series in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy. Photo © Twitter / Sümeyye Boyacı