39-Year-Old Marcus Titus Wins His First Deaflympics Gold; Sets Deaflympics Record on Day 3
The 25th Summer Deaflympics (Swimming) is underway in Tokyo, Japan, from November 20 to 25, 2025, at the Tokyo Aquatics Center. The event features swimmers competing in the Long Course Meter (LCM) format, with results available at https://deaflympics2025-games.jp/en/Watch-the-Games/Official-Results/SwimmingOfficialResults_PDF/#gsc.tab=0.
On Saturday evening, American swimming legend Marcus Titus added another gold medal to his impressive resume and set a new Deaflympics record in the 50-meter breaststroke. Titus, aged 39, clocked an impressive 28.24 seconds, outperforming his competitors and securing the top spot.
Titus, who has no official race results since the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials, where he finished 6th in the 100-meter breaststroke, just 1.12 seconds shy of making the Olympic Team, made his mark. He previously served as the coach of the 2013 U.S. team at the Deaflympics, but this was his first time competing as an athlete.
Titus dominated the event, finishing ahead of Ukrainians Denys Nakonechnyi (28.61 seconds) and Oleksii Kolmoiiets (28.81 seconds), who claimed silver and bronze, respectively. Titus' success continued as he later won the gold medal in the mixed 400-medley relay, contributing to a remarkable 3:58.57 time, which shattered the previous record of 4:01.97 set by Russia in 2018.
This victory marked Titus' fifth medal of the meet.
Italian Olympian Viola Scotto di Carlo also made waves, earning her fifth and sixth medals of the meet, both in World Record times. She won the 100-meter freestyle in 56.29 seconds, breaking the previous record of 57.17 set by Russian Olga Kliuchnikova in 2018. Di Carlo then set another World Record in the 50-meter backstroke, finishing in 29.28 seconds, surpassing the previous mark of 29.34 set by Kliuchnikova at the 2017 Deaflympics.
Japan's Ryutaro Ibara claimed his second gold medal of the meet on Saturday, following his victory in the 200-meter freestyle earlier in the competition. Ibara, as the leader of the host delegation, won the 200-meter Individual Medley in 2:06.11.
Other Saturday winners included Neutral Athlete Aksana Petrushenka, who won the 100-meter breaststroke in 1:13.45, and Katy Wun from Great Britain, who claimed the women's 1500-meter freestyle in 17:36.35.
The Deaflympics 2025 medals table for swimming, as of Thursday, showcases Ukraine leading with 12 medals, followed by the USA with 10, Italy with 7, Great Britain with 5, Japan with 4, Neutral Athletes with 3, China with 3, Poland with 6, Hungary with 2, Croatia with 2, Germany with 1, Australia with 1, and Latvia with 1.
Note: As of publication, the results from the women's 50-meter breaststroke final were yet to be reported.
