Heather Frederiksen got off to an excellent start in the women's S8 100m Freestyle and looked in a good position at the 40m mark but after slightly missing the wall she found herself turning in fourth place.
She pushed hard in the final 50m and found herself in second position as she touched the wall in a time of 1:08.48 and lowered the European record and her first medal of the 2008 Paralympic Games.
"I am really happy with that," she said. "You can't really describe what a medal means until you have one. I have seen other peoples and to have one of my own is great. I was really nervous last night and I rang my coach and he told me to do my best and I have done that.
"I have a busy programme and two days now until my main event the 400m free and I am really looking forward to it."
America's Jess Long claimed gold with an impressive time of 1:06.91 while the bronze medal went to Jaqueline Freney (Australia) with a time of 1:08.56.
