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Tokyo 2020 Paralympics: Swimming, Brenden Hall

Mango Hill swimmer Brenden Hall’s Tokyo 2020 Paralympics campaign is over after a fifth place in this morning’s 100m butterfly S9 heat.

He swam a time of 1:04.70 in the second heat, which was won by fellow Aussie William Martin, with a world record time of 58.14. Another Australian swimmer, Timothy Hodge was second with a time of 1:01.58.

It follows a final place in the men’s 100m Backstroke S9 final on Monday night and fourth place in his pet event, the 400m Freestyle S9 final on day two of the Paralympics.

Hall had previously won gold in the same event at London 2012 and again in Rio 2016.

The former Petrie State School and Pine Rivers State High School student also won gold in the 400m Freestyle S9 at the 2010, 2013 and 2015 World Championships.

The 28-year-old is a veteran of the Australian team, competing at his fourth Paralympics in Tokyo.

“I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t excited about pulling on the green and gold again,” Hall told Moreton Daily before the Games.

He trains with the Belgravia team at Burpengary Aquatic Centre with his coach of nine years Harley Connolly and conceded the younger pack was hot on his heels.

“(There’s) definitely a few more after me now,” said Hall, “being the older dog in the pack you expect that and I’m glad of the competition.

Out of the pool, Hall completed a Bachelor of Exercise and Sports Science at the University of Queensland in 2017 and is now finishing a Bachelor of Physiotherapy at the Australian Catholic University.

In the pool, Hall said he is “definitely looking beyond Tokyo”, but will see how the body holds up this year.

“The Commonwealth Games (Birmingham 2022) are just around the corner,” he said, “we’ll have a crack at that. Then two years to Paris (2024) … we’ll see what happens.

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