MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM – The third race was the charm for Noah Jaffe (Carlsbad, California), who earned his third medal of the meet and found the top of the worlds podium for the first time in his career to lead Team USA on the fourth day of racing at the 2023 Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester.

Adding to the medal haul for the Americans was Julia Gaffney (Mayflower, Arkansas), who brought home her second silver of the meet to bring the U.S. total to 14 medals over four days of competition.

Jaffe put an exclamation point on an already successful world championships debut with a breathtaking victory in one of the tightest races of the competition thus far. After qualifying first overall and setting an American Record in the preliminary heats, Jaffe took the momentum into the finals, where he put together a 59.15-second swim – breaking his own American Record for the second time on the day – and clinching his first career world title.

For the University of California, Berkeley, biochemistry student, it was a dream come true.

“It’s just a dream,” he said. “I’ve had a rough couple of years, but I’ve really been able to focus on my training these past couple of months, and I’m just so excited that it’s paid off. This is crazy to me.”

A tight race all the way through saw the top four athletes finish within a second of one another. After touching the wall at the 50-meter mark in fourth place by .92 seconds, Jaffe surged to the front of the pack in the final meters of the race.

He said seeing the competition in front of him fueled his drive to make the comeback.

“I’m always a backhalf swimmer,” he said. “I do best when I’m a little bit behind and I have someone to push me, so that’s really what I was focusing on. I saw the guys slightly in front of me out of the corner of my eye, so used that to push me to the wall.”

Jaffe, who has been one of the breakout stars for Team USA in Manchester, rounds out his individual program with the 50-meter freestyle on Friday.

Earning her second medal in Manchester was the two-time Paralympic medalist Gaffney, who secured silver in the women’s 100-meter backstroke S7. The medal marked her 12th at a world championships, dating back to her debut in 2017.

Gaffney nearly stole the gold in the backhalf of the race. Chasing Canada’s Danielle Dorris by more than three seconds at the split, Gaffney nearly caught the Canadian, touching the wall behind by only .24 seconds.

A three-time world champion, Gaffney will return to the pool for two additional individual races – the 50-meter butterfly and the 100-meter freestyle. She has won world championships medals in both events, taking silver in 2019 in the 50-meter butterfly and bronze in the 100-meter freestyle in 2017.

After winning her 36th career world title in yesterday’s 100-meter butterfly S8, Jessica Long (Baltimore, Maryland) nearly secured her second medal of the meet and 54th overall world championships medal, placing fourth in the 100-meter freestyle S8. Long will return to the pool Aug. 5 for the 200-meter individual medley.

Rounding out Team USA’s event final results was Lizzi Smith (Muncie, Indiana), who swam to eighth place in the women’s 100-meter freestyle S9. The seven-time world championships medalist raced to a 1:07.28 in her second final of the week. She will return for two more individual events this week – the 100-meter backstroke and the 50-meter freestyle.

The morning’s preliminary heat action saw Leanne Smith (Salem, Massachusetts) and Hannah Aspden (Raleigh, North Carolina) edged out of their respective finals qualifications by one slot each. Smith, competing in the women’s 50-meter backstroke S3 and Aspden in the women’s 100-meter freestyle S9, each placed ninth overall across their two heats, one spot short of the evening’s finals. Smith has three individual races left on her slate in Manchester, while Aspden will finish her competition Sunday with the 50-meter freestyle.

Paralympic silver medalist Matthew Torres (Ansonia, Connecticut) placed sixth in his heat of the 100-meter freestyle S8 to finish his meet. Paralympic bronze medalist Jamal Hill (Los Angeles, California) received a disqualification in the men’s 100-meter freestyle S9 due to WPS rule 10.16.1.

Competition resumes August 4 at 9 a.m. local time with the fifth day of preliminary heats. All sessions will be streamed live on NBC’s Peacock, and live results can be found here. Follow U.S. Paralympics Swimming on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates and results throughout the competition, which runs through August 6.

For media requests and photo inquiries, please contact Kristen Gowdy at Kristen.Gowdy@usopc.org.

Team USA Medals – August 3

GOLD
Noah Jaffe – men’s 100-meter freestyle S8

SILVER
Julia Gaffney – women’s 100-meter backstroke S7

Jaffe strikes gold on fourth night of competition in Manchester

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