Para swimmer Niranjan Mukundan starts 2024 with 3 gold and 2 silver at Reykjavik International Games

Niranjan Mukundan became the first Indian para swimmer to win 100 medals at the international level.

Niranjan Mukundan poses with five medals in Iceland.

New Delhi: Paraswimmer Niranjan Mukundan started the new year emphatically with three gold and two silver medals at the Reykjavik International Games (Icelandic Championships 2024). With this effort, Mukundan became the first Indian para swimmer to achieve cross-100 medals at the international level. He won gold medals in the 400 meters and 200 meters freestyle and the 200 meters breaststroke and he won silver in the 50 meters butterfly and the 100 meters freestyle.

With Mukundan having already achieved 'B' qualifying time in three events for the Paris Paralympic Games, the five medals in Iceland provide the Bangalore boy with perfect momentum in his pursuit of the 'A' qualification. Mukundan has three more events to go in the coming months (until July) as he hunts for an 'A' qualification cut.

“After narrowly missing out on the medal at the Para-Asian Games in October last year, it has been a tough season and now the recovery at the start of the year itself is a big boost,” said 29-year-old Mukundan. India.com.

“Also, to become the first Indian para swimmer to join the 100-medal club is an icing on the cake to start the year. With seven months to go before qualifying this has boosted my confidence and I am looking forward to this year,” he added.

Earlier in April last year, Mukundan broke a 16-year-old Asian record at the Norwegian Swimming Championships. He swam to gold in the 1500 meter freestyle in the S7 category and was also named the best male para swimmer. Born with spina bifida, an incomplete formation of the spinal cord, Mukundan braved 19 surgeries on his way to making a name for himself in swimming.

When he was told to take up swimming for aquatic therapy, Mukundan fell in love with water sports and eventually turned it into a career. At the age of 18, Mukundan won his first international medal. Seven years later, Mukundan emerged as the first Indian para swimmer to win half a century of international medals.

In 2015, Mukundan became world junior champion and became the youngest recipient of the Indian government's prestigious National Award. Mukundan will next be seen at the National Para Swimming Championship in March before flying to Germany (May) and France (June) for the Swimming World Series.