The athlete coached by Rasa Mažutaitienė arrived in 1 minute. 37.77 sec., but it was not enough to make it to the finals – the Lithuanian took 10th position overall. American Ellie Marks was the fastest of the eight swimmers who qualified for the finals, swimming in 1 minute. 20.83 sec.
“The time itself is not too bad, although I expected more from myself. Mornings are always difficult, this is how it turned out. I didn’t think too much about the final because there were 12 of us, which meant that I would have had to overtake quite a few of my rivals. I just wanted to swim in a time that would satisfy me, but it didn’t work,” said the swimmer.
Some time ago, G. Čepavičiūtė from Kaunas competed in the SM6 class 200-meter medley at the Paris Paralympic Games and won 8th place.
“I would say that this start was calmer for me than the debut one. After all, I’ve been here for two weeks and I’m used to it. Of course, such pleasant fatigue is felt already. But that didn’t stop me from being happy. After leaving, I immediately started looking for the Lithuanian flag, saw it and waved it. My parents also supported me in the arena this time, I am very happy with their initiative, I was very pleased”, said G. Čepavičiūtė.
This is the 18-year-old’s debut Paralympic Games.
“I value this experience very positively. I am very grateful just to be here. I am grateful to all my surroundings. There is really no end here, this is just the beginning of my journey. It was a good test of how I deal with big arenas, how I take it all psychologically. We will see how it will be later, because I really plan that there will be many more of those times,” said G. Čepavičiūtė.
2024-09-07 19:40:27