Paralympic Champion Benny Hance Pumped With A Second World Record In The 50m Freestyle
Australia’s charismatic Paralympic golden boy Benny Hance has finished his Australian Open Championship campaign the same way he started – on world record pace.
One of Australia’s more expressive swimmers out of the pool, the two-time Paralympic gold medallist from Tokyo and Paris, set his second Virtus World Record (for intellectually impaired athletes) in the Multi-Class program at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre.
Coached by Olympian Ash Delaney at St Andrews on the Sunshine Coast, Hance clocked an eye-watering 22.96 in the heats of the MC 50m freestyle – narrowly outside that time when he won the final in 23.21.
The 25-year-old S14 category athlete blasting down the pool alongside fellow Paralympic gold medallist, another equally engaging personality in S10 athlete Rowan Crothers (Marion, SA) who was second in 23.59, ahead of the S15 hearing impaired Nicholas Layton (Melbourne Vicentre) 23.76.
Hance opened his campaign on day one with a new mark in the 50m butterfly MD heats at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre clocking a time of 24.17 to set a new Virtus World Record – taking 0.10secs off his own world record set at the 2025 Hancock Prospecting Queensland Championship last December.
Hance showed he was on song in the opening event of the three-day meet – the open men’s 50m backstroke – clocking 25.93 (heat) and 25.92 (final) in a first for a Para swimmer.
(VIRTUS Games is an international competition for intellectually impaired athletes, this event is not a World Para swimming event).
Hance is also the Para world record holder in the 100m backstroke.