Bethany Firth and Hannah Russell lowered the world records in their classes in the 100m Backstroke on the penultimate day of the British Para-Swimming International Meet.
Russell (S12, Woking), who trains at the National Performance Centre, broke her own world record by 1.5 seconds as she touched in 1:06.15 which was faster than the qualification time for the IPC Swimming World Championships.
Russell kept close to Firth throughout and secured gold with 1086 points.
“To go in and deliver a half second PB from this morning I was really happy and I was a bit shocked,” Russell said. “I was really pleased that everything came together today.
“Working with my coach Rob Greenwood we’ve managed to nail everything in the final when it mattered most. It’s been perfecting the little things in that race. I know I have the speed but it’s about getting it all right.
“I wanted to swim quicker than my PB or to deliver a PB but to be quite honest I felt strong in my warm up so I was hoping for a performance like that and to have Bethany beside me was great. We broke the world record together.”
Firth (S14) secured a hat trick of world records tonight by knocking two seconds off the previous standard. Firth looked strong throughout the race but was pushed on by Russell.
She touched in 1:04.70; a time that puts her in contention for IPC World Championship selection and secured 1061 points to take silver.
“I’m really happy with all of my swims but I really don’t think that I would have been able to swim that if Hannah Russell hadn’t been beside me breaking her world record as well,” Firth said. “The Backstroke is one that is special to my heart I really enjoy swimming it so I am so glad to have gone and done that there.
“I really wasn’t expecting that. It was a massive PB for me and I was feeling a bit sluggish this morning after all the races but my coach really picked me up and told me to just go for it and with Hannah swimming beside me it really helped.”
Bronze went to Chloe Davies (S14, Swansea Aquatics) with a total of 912 points after touching in 1:08.05 while Alice Tai (S10, Bournemouth College) swam to a time of 1:09.29 to make herself eligible for IPC Swimming World Championship selection.
Ren 96’s Andrew Mullen (S5) stormed to victory in the final of the men’s 50m Butterfly and broke the European record for a second time in one day which puts him in contention for selection for Glasgow 2015.
Mullen recorded a time of 37.03 in the heats and then went on to shave a further 0.1 seconds off in the final with a time of 36.91, taking home the gold with 780 points.
“This morning was a big PB for me and to go faster was great,” Mullen said. “I managed to improve my finish and grab the extra tenth.
“I’m really glad to consistently PB. That was my aim coming in here and I wanted to go 36 point as well and I’m really happy to have done that.
“I was really happy with how I did at Euros so if I can go faster this summer and grab some of those medals I will be really pleased.”
The silver was claimed by City of Hereford swimmer Sascha Kindred (S6) who touched in a time of 32.79.
James Crisp (S9, City of Sheffield) swam to a time of 1:04.79 in the 100m Backstroke. The performance puts him into contention for selection for the IPC Swimming World Championships.
In the same event, Ollie Hynd (S8, Nova Centurion) won silver in 1:06.21 with a total of 875 points.
Eleanor Robinson (S6, Northampton) also reached the podium in the women’s 50m Butterfly with a time of 39.27 to take the silver.
Susannah Rodgers (S7, Beckenham) also achieved a medal, taking home the bronze on the third day of action in Glasgow after touching in 37.26 (747 points).
Tully Kearney of Boldmere (S9) clocked a time of 1:11.05 to record a score of 829 to claim the bronze in the 100m Butterfly.