Five races, five medals – and finally gold again: The swimming world championships of the para-athletes could hardly have gone better for Tanja Scholz. On Sunday she triumphed in the 200m freestyle.
The 37-year-old from Elmshorn had already set a championship record of 3:05.23 minutes in the preliminary heat of the S4 starting class. Almost eight hours later she followed up – and how! With 2:53.02 minutes, she smashed the old record and just missed her own world record from March (2:51.53). The Brazilians Lidia Vieira da Cruz (3:10.33) and Patricia Pereira dos Santos (3:18.10) ended up in second and third place, very far behind.
Denise Grahl had secured a second medal shortly before. The native of Rostock swam in the starting class S7 over 100 m freestyle (1:13.69 minutes) to the bronze medal.
Three freestyle golds and two silvers
It was the perfect finish for Scholz: In addition to the titles over 50 and 100 m freestyle, the North German also made it onto the podium in her starts over 150 m individual medley and 50 m backstroke and won silver in each case. According to her trainer Kirsten Bruhn, the athlete from PSV Union Neumünster actually “hates” breaststroke and she also “doesn’t love backstroke. She’s an absolute freestyle swimmer. She really rocks it.”
Scholz and her impressive story
Scholz’ achievements are also outstanding because she only contested her first international race last February. The Schleswig-Holstein native suffered incomplete paraplegia in a riding accident in June 2020 and has been in a wheelchair ever since. She told NDR that a year ago she thought: “I will never be able to live like this.”
But Bruhn, who has been in a wheelchair herself since a traffic accident, gave her new courage. “We have a very special relationship and the chemistry was right from the start,” said Bruhn in the NDR interview. And if your protégé, who has been competitive swimming since his youth, is struggling with emotions, “we’ll go through it together”.
Already outstanding at international DM
Scholz cannot move her legs. “She doesn’t have her left arm under control at all. She throws it forward and tries to be as effective as possible with the options she has,” explained coach Bruhn. “She’s really good at balancing that with her right arm, which is 85 percent usable.”
Scholz had already attracted attention at the international German championships with several titles and world records. But it was not to be expected that things would go so well at the World Cup. Because the title fights were not only physically challenging, but also mentally.
Bruhn: “Tanja always has to stay under pressure”
At the World Cup, both weighed everything carefully. “She has to take care of her health. I don’t want to put too much strain on her,” said Bruhn. “She needs her shoulders in the wheelchair – these are our legs. If we wear them down now, the rest of life will be even more exhausting than it already is. We go step by step and work our way from event to event.”
Nevertheless, Scholz “deliberately had a colorful program” at the World Cup. She was supposed to deliver in several days. “Otherwise the tension would have dropped too much by the last day with the 200m freestyle,” said Bruhn, adding: “She’s someone who always has to be under pressure.” And Scholz impressively demonstrated in Funchal that she can handle it.
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NDR 2 Sports | 06/18/2022 | 11:03 p.m
