FINAL FLOURISH PUTS GB ON TOP
Four more golds at the IPC World Swimming Championships ensured
Britain's spot at the top of the medal table on the final
night of action at the Kings Park Aquatic Centre in Durban.
Britain leads the table in the pool with tomorrow's open
water event determining the overall IPC World Swimming Champion.
The British haul of 24 gold, 14 silver and 14 bronze medals
puts them just one gold ahead of the USA and four golds clear
third-placed Ukraine.
Britain was neck and neck with America going into the final
night of competition and there was little to tell the countries
apart as both nations secured three individual golds. It was
down to the final event of the Championships to determine
the winner and Britain's 20-point 4x50m Medley delivered the
gold to propel them to the top of the table.
The quartet of Fran Williamson, Natalie Jones (both Colchester
Phoenix), Liz Johnson (Swim Swansea) and Jane Stidever (Leicester
Penguins) put in a solid performance at the end of a busy
meet to take gold in 3:28.97.
In the individual event, Danielle Watts (City of Oxford)
swam to her fourth gold of the meet with victory in the S1
100m Freestyle. Watts, who set a world record in the 200m
event earlier this week, was just outside her lifetime best
to touch in 2:57.73.
"I'm really chuffed with that," she said. "I
could see the girl in the next lane and she was chasing me
all the way. I knew she was close and I had to put a bit of
acceleration on.
"I've had a great time out here and the support staff
and coaches have been amazing. Without their support I wouldn't
have achieved what I have. My coach Eddie McCluskey has been
brilliant. The work he has done on my starts and turns has
really made a difference."
Dave Roberts (Swim Swansea) added another gold to his collection
with victory in the S7 50m Freestyle. Roberts kept off British
team mate and world record holder Matt Walker to take the
title in 28.73 seconds.
"I'm on top of the world," said Roberts. "There
was a lot of pressure going into this race. I've been behind
Matt all year and so I knew it was going to be tough. My aim
was to get ahead at the 25m mark and if I was leading there
I knew I could finish it off. It was a great race and it's
good to have top quality competition like that."
Walker finished in 29.32 for bronze behind American Lantz
Lamback who touched in 29.19.
"I don't know what happened," said a disappointed
Walker. "I've not swum well all week, it's been a bad
meet for me. I've had a really good year in general though
and there's always another day. And on the positive side,
I'm still the world record holder."
Kenny Cairns grabbed further individual gold for the team,
and a bronze medal performance in the 20-point 4x50m Medley
team boosted his personal contribution to two gold and two
silver.
Cairns won gold in the S3 100m Freestyle in 1:53.84, just
three hundredths of a second off the British record, before
joining up with teammates Anthony Stephens, Gareth Duke (both
Swim Swansea) and Sascha Kindred (Leominster) for the relay
bronze and a new British standard of 2:51.59.
"I've trained really hard this year for the distance
events and I knew the competition would be tough," said
Cairns. "All the races here have been hard and they've
all been very close which is good for the sport.
"I came here looking to win medals and swim personal
bests so I'm really pleased to have got two gold and two silver.
The conditions haven't been great for me coming into this
meet, but it's the same for everyone so to have achieved what
I did is brilliant. I'm just happy all that hard work paid
off."
In the S2 100m Freestyle, Jim Anderson (Stirling) won silver
in 2:23.45 behind new-boy Dmitry Kokarev of Russia to bring
his meet total to one gold and three silver medals.
"I gave it everything tonight and I'm really shattered,"
said Anderson. "I went six seconds quicker than this
morning, which is good. I did all I could but the Russian
is younger and stronger than me. I'll have the think about
my race plan now and I look forward to racing him again in
Beijing or at the European Championships next year if they
go ahead."
Swim Swansea's Anthony Stephens snatched bronze in a tight
S5 100m Freestyle. After a slow start, Stephens put on the
gas for the final 25m and hit home in 1:17.18 to edge out
world record holder Sebastian Rodriguez of Spain.
"I'm a bit disappointed with the time, I was hoping
for a PB," said Stephens. "I knew it would be a
fight for the bronze but I'm surprised with the result. It's
the end of competition and the 200m Freestyle really took
it out of me. I'm sore and tired so I'm just pleased to medal."
Kindred collected his third individual medal of the meet
with bronze in the S6 50m Butterfly. He touched in 34.01 behind
Russia's Igor Plotnikov and new world record holder Peng Li
of China.
Bolton Metro's Rachael Latham was out of the medals but set
a new British record in the S8 50m Freestyle. The Bolton Metro
swimmer, who swims Butterfly for the freestyle events, was
delighted with her performance.
"I'm really pleased to do a PB on my last swim of the
meet," she said. "The 200m Medley didn't go as I'd
wanted but to set a new British record in this and the 100m
Butterfly earlier this week is really encouraging."
Fran Williamson set a new British record of 2:18.88 in the
heats of the S3 100m Freestyle but was edged out of the medals
to finish fourth in the final.
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