Two World, three European and five British records were broken in the first national para-swimming competition since the Rio Games.
With 16 swimming Rio Paralympics medallists taking part, it was a full house for the National Para-Swimming Championships in Manchester.
Over 250 Para-Swimmers competed at the Manchester Aquatics Centre on 10 and 11 December. Amongst the talented line-up was double Paralympic silver and bronze medallist (200m freestyle, 200 individual medley and 100m backstroke), Jessica-Jane Applegate.
The UEA Norwich swimmer, 20, broke two World and two European in the S14 100m butterfly and S14 400m freestyle. She clocked 1:06.86 in the butterfly, breaking her own World mark set in last year’s event- also a British record. Soon after, she smashed the 400m freestyle World record in 4:31:05, knocking over seven seconds off the old time.
Her S14 rival, Bethany Firth, was in great form too after the Rio Paralympics where she took three golds and a silver. Firth's 50m split time (35:18secs) in the 100m breaststroke was enough for a new British record.
Fellow teammate Thomas Hamer broke a vacant European record in the S14 100m freestyle with 55:11secs. Meanwhile, Stephen Clegg’s 100m backstroke split time for 50m secured him a new British record in the S12 class (31:03secs).
Suzanne Warren (UEA Norwich), who as an S4 swimmer is in the lower classifications for those with physical impairments, broke the 50m backstroke British record (1:00:03). Sophie Woodward (Nova Centurion) knocked over 14 seconds off the S3 50m Butterfly British record, touching in 1:19.88.
In addition to established swimmers like Warren, there were four swimmers with lower classifications from the England talent programme taking part this weekend. This shows the sport’s continued commitment to identifying swimmers in the lower classes. Newcomers Harvey Phillips (Louth) and Ellie Challis (Colchester), both only 12 and swimming in the S4 class, showed excellent form as they set new personal bests.
This event is renowned for highlighting swimmers to watch in the future, especially now leading up to Tokyo 2020. Loughborough student Kahoru Harazawa was in top form this weekend, where he came close to the British record he set in the S10 200m individual medley at the recent BUCS Short Course Championships 2016 in Sheffield. Talking about his hopes for the future, he said:
“I’ve been doing a lot of short course training so to get personal bests is really good. I want to enjoy this year and that’s the attitude I have gone with since the start of the season. We’ve got the World Championships next year and Tokyo’s on my mind.”
On the first day, the crowd was treated to a ‘Parade of Champions’ to celebrate the successful year of Para-Swimming. The medallists taking part in the Championships were presented to the audience, including Eleanor Robinson, Hannah Russell and Michael Jones.
In September, a squad of 30 para-swimmers represented Great Britain at the Rio Paralympic Games. They claimed an incredible 47 medals in the pool, eight more than London 2012. Our Para-Swimming team totalled 16 gold, 16 silver and 15 bronze medals.