Teigan Van Roosmalen

Teigan Van Roosmalen (born 6 April 1991) is an Australian Paralympic S13 swimmer. She has Usher syndrome type 1, and is legally blind and profoundly deaf. She had a swimming scholarship from the Australian Institute of Sport from 2009 to 2012. Her events are the 100 m breaststroke, 200 m individual medley, and the 50 m and 100 m freestyle. She competed at the 2011 Para Pan Pacific Championships in Edmonton, where she won a gold medal in the S13 400 m freestyle event. She competed at the 2008 Summer and 2012 Summer Paralympics.

Personal Van Roosmalen was born in Bateau Bay, New South Wales, on 6 April 1991. She "is legally blind and deaf, with cysts pushing on her optic nerve causing blackouts in one eye." A photograph of her has graced the front of the 2006 Central Coast telephone book. As of January 2012, she is ranked No.2 in the world in the 100 m breaststroke, fourth in the 200 m IM, fifth in the 100 m freestyle and sixth in the 50 m freestyle."

Van Roosmalen started swimming in 1997 and first represented Australia at the 2005 Deaflympics in Melbourne. In 2007, she set an Australian age record and won a gold medal at the Arafura Games in the 100 m butterfly event. At the 2008 Beijing Games, she competed in six events and did not win a medal.

In 2010, Van Roosmalen competed at the Australian short course championships, which were held in Brisbane, Queensland. She won three medals at the competition, but also re-injured her shoulder. She also competed at the 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships held in Eindhoven, the Netherlands in the S11-13 events, but did not win any medals, the only Australian at the competition to do so. She had a time of 4:59.67 in the women's 400 m freestyle S13 event, where she finished fourth. In the 50m freestyle S13 event, she finished fifth, setting a personal best with a time of 29.97. A shoulder injury almost prevented her from competing in the competition, with a question regarding her participation because of the necessity of a medical clearance until such a time that she boarded the plane to depart Australia. She finished first in the 100m Butterfly Women's Open event with a games record time of 1.09.68. She finished third in the 100m Backstroke Women's Open event with a time of 1.17.28. She was credited with having the "Outstanding Swim of the Meet" by the Games's organisers.

Van Roosmalen competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in six different swimming events, qualifying for the finals in four events. In the process, she set several personal best times. She was successful, and swam in four events, finishing sixth in the 50m freestyle - S13, seventh in the 100m freestyle - S13 and the 100m breaststroke - SB13, and sixth in the 200m metre individual medley SM13.

Competing at the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Van Roosmalen won four bronze medals in the Women's 200 m Individual Medley SM13, Women's 100m Butterfly S13, Women's 100m Breaststroke SB13 and Women's 100m Backstroke S13.

At the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships, Glasgow, Scotland, she finished fifth in the Women's 100m Backstroke S13, sixth in the Women's 100m Breaststroke SB13 and seventh in the Women's 50m Freestyle S13 and Women's 200m Individual Medley SM13.

Personal best times The following are van Roosmalen's personal best times : + Type Event Time Meet Swim Date Reference ---- Long Course 50m Backstroke 36.46 2009 Telstra Australian Swimming Championships 17-Mar-09 ---- Long Course 100m Backstroke 01:17.0 2011 Telstra Australian Swimming Championships 1-Apr-11 In 2017, she received Swimming Australia Services to the Australian Swim Team Award.