Melissa Alvarado Nevárez, Digi Mart USA News (Albufeira, Portugal): Juárez swimmer Melissa Alvarado Nevárez won a gold medal with the Mexican women’s team in the 4×100-meter combined relay at the XII World Swimming and Artistic Swimming Championships for People with Down Syndrome, according to a report from the publisher ADN.
The competition was held in a 25-meter pool in Albufeira, Portugal, in a direct final against the clock. Mexico recorded an official time of 6 minutes, 41 seconds and 55 hundredths, placing first ahead of South Africa, which took the silver medal.
The Mexican relay team consisted of Melissa Alvarado Nevárez, Mariana Escamilla Braña, María Guadalupe Cárdenas Pérez and Paola Veloz Bárcenas. They were coached by Orlando Ibarra Pérez and Carmen Guadalupe Siller Rodríguez.
Delegations from Great Britain, Canada, the United States and South Africa also took part in the international event, which brings together athletes with Down syndrome in swimming and artistic swimming events.
Alvarado Nevárez, known as “La Sirenita de Juárez,” has competed nationally and internationally for Mexico over an 18-year sporting career. The publisher reports that she returned to a venue where she had previously achieved strong results, this time as part of the team that won the world title in the relay.
The publisher notes that the win represents the first gold medal for the Mexican delegation at the XII championship, which is taking place in the Algarve region of Portugal.
