Trio of gold for GBR on day three
British athletes collected eight more medals on the third day of the European Para Swimming Championships 2018 including three golds, plus a World record for Maisie Summers-Newton.
Maisie Summers-Newton returned to the pool for her second event of Dublin 2018 and did not disappoint as she darted to the wall to claim her second European title of the week and smashed her own World record in the process, her winning time was 1:33.63.
Maisie said:
“It's not sunk in yet. I didn't expect to come here and break 2 World records. It's amazing and I'm so happy. When I first started swimming I just wanted to make the team, and it's become a dream to get to a Paralympics. That dream could still come, but just to represent Great Britain here is amazing.”
Teammate and Paralympic Champion Eleanor Simmonds made it a British one-two as she touched for silver in 1:41.56. The GB duo were accompanied on the podium by Viktoriia Savtsova of Ukraine.
S14 swimmers Bethany Firth and Jessica-Jane secured another British one-two finish in Dublin, as they took gold and silver respectively in the Women’s 100m Backstroke.
Firth was in control of the race from the starters signal but then turned on the after burners for the final lap and sprinted after from the field to claim gold and the continental title more than three seconds ahead of second place Applegate. Both athletes posted season’s best swims, 1:04.23 for Firth and 1:07.38 for Applegate. The British pair were joined on the podium by Eva Tejeda Coronado of Spain, she settled for bronze.
Shortly after collecting her medals, Bethany said:
“This season has been a mixture of ups and downs, so to get close to my world record, I’m so happy. The team is doing amazingly well and we’re cheering each other on, it’s a great atmosphere."
Hannah Russel lined up for GBR in Women’s S12 50m Freestyle splash and dash final, she tied with Germany’s Elena Krawzow for the 2018 European title and gold in a time of 27.94. Russel and Krawzow shared the Dublin 2018 podium with Alessia Berra of Italy who collected bronze.
Hannah said:
“I’m happy with that swim overall, it’s a little bit weird having two gold medallists, but it’s nice to share the podium with someone else. I had no idea how close we were until the race was over."
Jordan Catchpole collected his second silver medal of the 2018 European Championships in the Men’s S14 100m Backstroke and touched home in a new British record time of 1:01.71. Catchpole was edged out of gold medal position by Marc Evers who eventually topped the podium in Dublin and bronze went to Vasyl Krainyk of Ukraine.
It was a second European Championship medal for Megan Richter, this time it was bronze in the SB7 100m Breaststroke final. She secured her podium finish in a big new personal best time of 1:42.86. The gold went to Ukraine’s Oksana Khrul and silver returns to the Czech Republic with Vendula Duskova.
Earlier in the night, Richter lined up for the Women’s S8 50m Freestyle where she finished fourth and only narrowly missed out on a medal. She also improved her time from the heats to lower her season’s best to 33.18.
Aberdeen-based, Toni Shaw, who represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games earlier in 2018, continued to demonstrate great form in what is a breakout year for her as she went in the Women’s S9 100m Butterfly final. Shaw claimed the bronze medal in the very final race of day three’s schedule with a personal best swim of 1:09.18.
The Women’s S9 100m Butterfly European title went to Spain’s Sarai Gascon and silver to Nuria Marques Soto also of Spain.
Zara Mullooly finally got chance to make her senior international debut for Great Britain as she went in the Women’s S10 400m Freestyle final. Mullooly touched in a time of 4:42.62, a huge new lifetime best swim and placed fourth at the completion of the race.
The Men’s S12 50m Freestyle final saw Stephen Clegg lower the British record for a second time in one day, he posted a time of 24.79 and finished the fifth fastest man in Europe.
Tully Kearney was the first British athlete to take to the water during day three finals, she went in the final of the Women’s SB4 100m Breaststroke final. Kearney finished fifth overall in a time of 2:30.49.
