Four gold medals claimed by British Para-Swimming Team at IPC Euros
The British Para-Swimming Team won four gold medals on the first day of competition at the IPC Swimming European Championships in Madeira.
Jonathan Fox made an instant impact on his return to international competition by winning gold in the S7 100m Backstroke.
The world record holder finished in a time of 1:10.62 to claim the team’s first gold, saying:
“I am pretty happy. I mean coming off our Rio trials last week and competing again and being around my time is pretty good.
“Having to miss Europeans in 2014 and worlds in 2015 was tough but I’m back. Coming here and seeing the results of my training paying off is really really good.”
Andrew Mullen won the second gold of the night after he won the S5 50m Butterfly with a time of 36.91.
British record holder Matt Wylie won his first international gold medal after impressing with his performance in the S9 50m Freestyle.
He touched in a time of 25.85 to claim his gold, and sad:
“I couldn’t be happier with that really. It’s my first ever senior international medal so that’s great.
“I got the qualification time for Rio last week so I’m in a good place at the moment. I didn’t expect to win that race. I did expect to swim a little bit faster than that but coming away with the gold is really good.”
The fourth gold medal of the night went to Tom Hamer in the S14 200m Freestyle after he reached the wall in a time of 1:57.96.
Hamer swam an excellently timed race to come from third place to first and claim his first international gold medal.
“I’m really happy with that swim. I went out easy this morning and swam a 2:09 so saved all of my energy for the final and it paid off.
“I could see Mikhail Kuliabin [Russia] but my googles flipped over but I could just see him and I wanted to beat him on that last 50m.
“I’m over the moon with the gold medal and it’s given me confidence for the rest of the season.”
Ollie Hynd lowered his personal best twice in the S8 100m Freestyle and eventually won silver in 59.88 which also marked the first time he went under a minute in the race.
Paralympic champion Jessica-Jane Applegate won silver in the S14 200m Freestyle, while Stephanie Millward touched in seventh place in the S9 50 Freestyle with a time of 30.87.
In the first race of the night to feature a Brit, Zara Mullooly finished in eighth place overall in the S10 400m Freestyle after clocking 5:02.53.
