The cream of world disability swimming is in Manchester this weekend for the third annual Visa Paralympic World Cup.

Swimmers ranked top 10 in the world will be in action at the Manchester Aquatics Centre on Saturday (12 May) for the daylong event showcasing 17 of the most competitive events on the Paralympic programme.

An 18-strong British squad will be defending its table-topping record in the pool, having won more medals than any other nation for the last two years running. With 16 of the team boasting medals from the December’s World Championships, they will be looking to impress on the international circuit 16 months out from the Beijing Paralympics.

A change in the programme means none of Britain’s swimmers will be defending their titles, but 10 swimmers from last year’s competition are back this year, including World Champions Dave Roberts (Swim Swansea), Sascha Kindred (Leominster) and Natalie Jones (Colchester Phoenix).

Among the usual suspects competing in Manchester is a group of promising young talents, including Louise Watkin (Kelly College), Matt Whorwood and Jonathan Fox (both Newquay Cormorants).

The Visa Paralympic World Cup marks the start of an intense period of competition for Britain’s top athletes and is followed by the British International Disability Swimming Championships and German Open Championships.

British Head Coach Billy Pye believes the World Cup is perfectly placed to give swimmers the kick-start they need in the run-up to the Paralympic Games.
 
“Most of the athletes have already raced since the World Championships but the World Cup really kicks off our preparations into Beijing,” he said. “The athletes will need to swim hard at all three meets in order to toughen up for the eight-day Paralympic programme.

“With 16 months to go until the Games, the World Cup will enable swimmers and their coaches to test where they are and see what’s still left to do.”

Swimming is one of four sports at the Visa Paralympic World Cup, which officially kicked off on Monday with wheelchair basketball. More than 300 athletes are expected to take part during the week of competition.

British swimmers competing in Manchester are as follows:
Kenny Cairns (Port Glasgow Otters)
Claire Cashmore (Kelly College)
Emma Cattle (Luton)
James Crisp (City of Sheffield)
Gareth Duke (Swim Swansea)
Jonathan Fox (Newquay Cormorants)
David Hill (Kelly College)
Liz Johnson (Swim Swansea)
Natalie Jones (Colchester Phoenix)
Sascha Kindred (Leominster Kingfisher)
Rachel Latham (Bolton Metro)
Nyree Lewis (Leominster Kingfisher)
David Roberts (Swim Swansea)
Anthony Stephens (Swim Swansea)
Matt Walker (Marple)
Louise Watkin (Kelly College)
Fran Williamson (Colchester Phoenix)
Matt Whorwood (Newquay Cormorants)

The following events are scheduled:

Male:
50m and 100m MD Freestyle.
SM6 200m Individual Medley
SB6 100m Breaststroke
S9 100m Backstroke
S3 100m Freestyle
S7 50m Freestyle
S5 100m Freestyle
S11 100m Backstroke

Female;
50m and 100m MD Freestyle.
SM6 200m Individual Medley
S6 100m Backstroke
S10 100m Backstroke
S3 50m Backstroke 
S9 100m Freestyle
S8 100m Butterfly

-ENDS-

For details of the Visa Paralympic World Cup logo onto www.visaparalympicworldcup.com

For more information contact British Swimming media officer Amanda Smith on 01509 632238, 07876 652 318 or email amanda.smith@swimming.org

British Swimming is the National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo and Open Water in Great Britain.  It is responsible internationally for the high performance representation of the sport. The members of British Swimming are the three Home Countries national governing bodies of England (Amateur Swimming Association), Scotland (Scottish Amateur Swimming Association) and Wales. (Welsh Amateur Swimming Association)  British Swimming seeks to enable its athletes to achieve gold medal success at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games.
www.britishswimming.org