Australian swimmer Alexa Leary has broken the women’s 100m freestyle S9 in a world record time of 59.53 seconds at the Paralympic Games.
The 23-year old Queenslander celebrated her first individual Paralympic gold medal on Wednesday in front of a packed crowd at the La Defense Arena, telling reporters that she had wanted to break the world record.
“I’m just amazed that I did it,” she said. “Tonight was my show. It was a great one. I was so nervous. I was honestly frightened to go out there. I had to just pull something in me and go, ‘Come on Lex, let’s get it’.”
Leary had already broken the world record for the race during the heats before cutting .07 seconds off her time in the finals — breaking the world record twice in one day.
She said her journey has been “long and rough” — considering that three years ago, she’d been told by doctors she would not survive a fatal bike accident during a triathlon training session. The young cyclist came off her bike while she was riding at 70km/ph, leaving her with brain damage and major injuries.
“It’s been a long, rough journey for me but it’s a miracle that I’m living and I’m walking and I’m talking,” Leary said. “I’ve just come so far in life. Being told three years ago I wouldn’t live … but I am. I proved the world wrong.”
“It makes me want to go even harder at the next Paralympics to see what else I’ve got.”
Just two days ago, Leary carried Australia’s 100m relay team to a gold medal in the 4x100m mixed medley relay.
“It was really good by our team, we were just a powerhouse,” she described after the win, taking the podium with her teammates Jesse Aungles, Tim Hodge and Emily Beecroft.
“I was watching us and I was like ‘come on come on’ and when I saw at the end when I was like, ‘alright, I’m going to have to weapon myself out here, we got to take home the gold’.”
The former junior triathlete thanked her parents, whom she attributed to being “the reason” for her success and survival.
“My dad stopped working [after the accident] and my mum stopped as well,” she said. “They were in that hospital with me for six months. Dad was constantly at his knees in that hospital every single day next to my bed. So it’s a big reason why I’m here.”
“Dad will be having lots of tissues in his eyes tonight, wiping his little tears. He doesn’t stop crying. He makes me cry because I love the fact that he just cries. I love it.”
Right after her record-breaking swim, Leary was surprised with a special video from Australian DJ “FISHER” — an artist whom she listened to throughout her long recovery.
“Alexa you absolute legend,” Fisher said in the video. “First up I want to say congrats on breaking that world record. We love ya. You’re such an inspiration.”
Leary said his music “upbeats” her “every single day.”
“I don’t know what it is about his music,” she said. “[I want to] just go smash it in the water. I love it. I don’t ever stop listening to FISHER.”