Faye Rogers and Alice Tai continued the British gold rush on day three of the 2025 World Para Swimming Championships with storming victories in the pool.
The British team continue to build momentum through the Singapore 2025 World Para Swimming Championships, with Faye Rogers and Alice Tai the latest to win world titles as seven more medals were added to the British tally on Tuesday evening.
With the Women’s S10 400m Freestyle a straight final, Rogers’ strategy saw her push hard from the off to establish clear water from the rest of the field early on – stretching the gap up to five seconds clear through the mid part of the race.
That trajectory was maintained to the finish, with the Patrick Miley-coached swimmer bettering her lifetime best to stop the clock in a British record mark of 4:32.34 and take the gold.
“I’m really happy with that. Yesterday’s 200m Individual Medley was amazing and I got a PB but I knew I could have of swum it better, so in this one I was just focussing on swimming my race plan as I was supposed to,” said Rogers.
“I still think I went out a little too fast, but we definitely didn’t die off as much towards the end, so mission accomplished there. That again was a big PB, and a gold medal so I can’t ask for much more than that!”
The end of the night saw Alice Tai attain a third world gold in as many days, with Brock Whiston also adding to her medal collection in the Women’s S8 100m Butterfly.
Tai’s powerful first length saw her assume the lead, and unlike 12 month ago in Paris there was no signs of fading down the closing meters as reached the wall in a five seconds seasons best, whereas Whiston showed poise to hold form in battling up into the bronze medal position to share the podium with her compatriot once again.
Reacting to her victory, Tai said:
“I was not expecting to win that one, I was literally talking to Jess [Long] in the call room and we both like just wanted to finish it.
“I’m really shocked because it’s faster than I did in Paris [last year], and training wise I was a lot more prepared for Paris. My fly is always a bit unpredictable, and I guess it just went well today.
“I feel like I’m in a good place to start the LA cycle – my coach retired this year so it’s been a been a bit of a tough one trying to find new programmes and train to the level I normally would, but I’m really happy with my swims so far and it’s a really good base to work off in the next few seasons.”
Meanwhile in her second event of these championships, Iona Winnifrith produced a brilliant swim to lower her Women’s SB7 100m Breaststroke British record to 1:26.57 on route to securing a silver medal – Britain’s first medal of competition day three in the OCBC Aquatic Centre.
Providing chase to a world record breaking swim from Mariia Pavlova (NPA), the Michael Ellis-coached swimmer gained almost half a second back on her rival in the return length as she powered into the finish – adding more silverware to her opening day Individual Medley bronze.
The following SB14 100m Breaststroke events provided a pair of bronzes to the British medal haul, with Harry Stewart and Olivia Newman-Baronius both securing their maiden world medals.
Stewart set a European record in the morning heats, before progressing that time further to post a 1:04.04 in the medal contest to secure his place on the podium, while Newman-Baronius paced her effort well to move into the top three following a great turn - holding off the challenge of teammate, Louise Fiddes, who narrowly missed out on adding another world medal to her collection in fourth.
“I’m absolutely over the moon with the result,” said Stewart.
“To medal on my debut race at the world championships I’m very happy - even more pleased to come away with a medal here as I missed out on one in Paris [last year]. Breaking my European records again was also great, that was the main aim coming into it and it’s great to drop it down by nearly another whole second.”
Grace Harvey claimed bronze in the Women’s SM6 200m Individual Medley, coming through strongly in the second half of the race to edge out her close friend, Verena Schott (GER) to complete the podium. That race was preceded by a huge personal best for Bruce Dee in the Men’s SM6 200m Individual Medley, with the 2024 European medallist only 0.4 seconds away from the medal places in fourth as he closed in strongly at the finish.
Elsewhere Astrid Carroll continued to gain exposure on the world stage in the Women’s S12 50m Freestyle, securing qualification from the heats for an outside lane in the final where she placed eighth overall, while in the Men’s S10 400m Freestyle event Kieran Williams and Roan Brennan made their maiden world championship appearance, placing fifth and eight respectively in their final.
Live and extended results of the Singapore 2025 World Para Swimming Championships can be found at www.paralympic.org/swimming/live-results, with live streaming of sessions on the Paralympics YouTube Channel.