Three female paralympic swimmers broke records at the European Paralympic Swimming Championships in Iceland yesterday.
Eleanor Simmonds set a new world record in the SM6 200 metre individual medley with a time of 3:11.82 seconds. This was her third gold medal of the competition. Team-mate Natalie Jones led, but Simmonds came from behind, beating her in the final 50 metres. Jones won the silver medal, finishing only 0.27secs behind Simmonds.
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Simmonds said: “I have worked hard to improve my breaststroke recently and I knew that I had a chance to close in on her through that so I put my head down through the final 50m and I got it.”
Heather Frederiksen also set a new world mark in the women’s S8 50m freestyle with a time of 31.21 seconds, almost half a second off the previous record. She was part of the women’s relay team that won a gold medal on the second day of the championships.
In the S9 400m freestyle final Stephanie Millward secured her second gold of the competition and beat the European record by nearly two seconds with a time of 4:43.08 seconds. Louise Watkin took silver while Lauren Steadman finished with bronze.
The European Swimming Championships started on the 18th October and will run until the 24th October.
Joanne Ellul, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine
