ROBERTS DEFENDS WORLD TITLE IN DURBAN
Britain boosted its medal tally by five as Paralympic Champion
Dave Roberts successfully defended his title at the IPC World
Championships in Durban.
Swim Swansea's Roberts was the first of the Brits to reach
the podium on day two of competition after successfully defending
his title in the S7 100m Freestyle in a tough race that included
two of his own team mates.
It was a battle of nations with three home countries represented.
Roberts went head to head with English rival Matt Walker (Marple)
and Scotland's Andrew Lindsay (Incas), but kept his form to
take the title in 1:02.13.
Walker was beaten to the second spot by America's Lantz Lamback
and finished in bronze position in 1:06.49 while Lindsay was
sixth in 1:09.82.
"It was important for me to come here and win tonight,"
said Roberts. "It's not been the greatest of years for
me with injury and illness so it was good to finish on top.
"I'm slightly disappointed with my time, which is odd
to say when I've just been crowned champion, but it shows
the standards we're aiming at with this team. I knew I was
able to win and I wanted to lower my world record, but the
important thing about the World Championships is to come first
and I managed that today."
In the S6 100m Freestyle, Natalie Jones (Colchester Phoenix)
smashed a six-year-old British record to win silver in 1:21.59
behind Dormitzi Gonzalez of Mexico who was first in 1:21.34.
"I'm so pleased to have medalled in this event,"
said Jones. "I would have liked the gold, but it was
always going to be a tough task so I'm really happy.
"I wasn't thinking about the record going into the event
but I'm so chuffed to get it. I did a 1:22 at the World Cup
so I knew I had it in me."
In the same event 12-year-old Eleanor Simmonds, the youngest
athlete ever to be part of a senior British swimming squad,
reached the final and finished seventh in a massive personal
best time of 1:27.64.
There was surprise for Horwich Leisure Centre's Rachael Latham
who was awarded bronze in the S8 100m Butterfly after China's
Shengnan Jiang was disqualified. Jessica Long of the USA dominated
the field and knocked three and a half seconds off the World
record to bring it to 1:13.25 and Latham swam home to a personal
best and new European record of 1:20.01.
"I really wanted to go 1:19 but I just set a personal
best and a new European record so I can't ask for more than
that," she said. "This event is so competitive at
the moment and Jess Long has improved so much this year."
In the men's event, multi-Paralympian Giles Long was edged
out of the medals in a fast race that saw the world record
fall to China's Xiaofu Wang. Wang put in a clinical performance
to lower the bar for the second time in one day, setting the
new standard at 1:01.53. Long finished fifth in 1:08.05.
"I gave it 110% which is all I can do," explained
Long. "Wang finished in 61 seconds and I can't match
that. He's a technical master in the pool and he showed that
this evening."
There was disappointment for City of Sheffield's James Crisp
who had to settle for bronze in his number one event and wave
goodbye to his world record. In yet another fast race, America's
Jarrett Perry took the record from Crisp, lowering it to 1:03.91.
Matt Cowdrey of Australia won silver in 1:04.61 and Crisp
took bronze in 1:05.68.
"I just couldn't get going," said Crisp. "I
know I'm capable of the time that would have won this race
but I just don't know what went wrong. That was a terrible
performance and I'm really disappointed with myself."
David Hill (Kelly College) was just off his best as he touched
behind Crisp for fourth position in 1:06.62.
"I think I was probably aiming too high as I'd have
liked to get a medal," admitted Hill. "But that's
the second fastest I've ever swum and to improve two seconds
on this morning's swim is good. I had a plan going into the
race and I knew that if I could get into a rhythm I could
stick with the big guys, and it nearly paid off."
Fellow Kelly student Claire Cashmore was less satisfied with
her effort in the S9 100m Backstroke, where she had hoped
to improve on her performance at the Paralympics. Cashmore
was left behind on the final straight and finished eighth
in 1:19.72.
"I freaked out at the end of the race and I didn't get
my touch right," she said. "Because I only have
one arm it's so important to get the touch right when I'm
up against swimmers with both arms, and that let me down tonight.
"It's hard to win bronze in Athens then come here and
finish eighth, but I've got to put that behind me now and
focus on my remaining events."
Earlier today Kate Grey missed out on progressing to the
finals after narrowly losing a swim-off for eighth position.
However Grey's time of 1:18.58 was a personal best, as was
the heat time for 14-year-old Louise Watkin who also swam
in the S9 100m Backstroke.
In other events, Matt Whorwood of Newquay Cormorants set
a new British record in the S6 100m Freestyle, lowering the
previous best held by Sascha Kindred to 1:14.04 and Emma Cattle
(Luton) finished fifth in the S10 100m Backstroke.
Nyree Lewis saw her SB5 world record fall to Germany's Kirsten
Bruhn whose time of 1:43.22 was over six seconds under the
mark set in 2004. Lewis finished fifth in 2:05.35.
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