September 13, 2019 - Croatian Paralympian Dino Sinovcic won the 100m backstroke gold medal in the S6 category at the WPS World Paralympic Championships in London!

Index.hr reports that Sinovic won at the Queen Elizabeth Aquatic Center with a time of 1:15.46, ahead of the Chinese swimmer Hong Yang who swam a time of 1:15.47 for the silver, and Argentine Matias De Andrade, who swam a time of 1:16.91 for the bronze. 

"I'm overjoyed. It was really the subtle differences that decided this great result, because I was only a hundredth of a second faster than Hong Yang,” Sinovcic said.

The member of Split’s PK Cipal swam faster in the final than in the qualifiers where he had the second-best time (1:16.90) behind Argentine De Andrade (1:15.65).

Dino won the gold at the European Championships in Dublin last August with a time of 1:16.08. For Sinovcic, it was the second medal from the European Championships after he was third in Reykjavik in 2009. Dino was also fifth in the last Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

"After the European gold from Dublin last year, I won the gold tonight. No one is happier than I am. Now, as I prepare for Tokyo, I must bypass any injury, and I believe I will be ready to attack the Paralympic gold as well," said the young Split native.

“Congratulations to Dino Sinovcic on a wonderful race and a gold medal, and congratulations to the whole team and especially to coach Slobodan Glavcic! The Republic of Croatia, HPO, HPPS, ŠSI City of Split and Swimming Club "Cipal" Split have the WORLD swimming champion!” wrote PK Cipal on their Facebook page. 

Two more Croatian swimmers competed in Thursday’s qualifications. Tommy Brajsa finished 12th in the S4 50m backstroke with a time of 57.97, while Ante Raja finished 10th in the S7 100m backstroke with a time of 1:18.91.

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