The British Gas Disability Team claimed five world titles on the third day of the IPC Swimming World Championships (25m) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil .
The gold medals went to Eleanor Simmonds, the women’s 34 point relay team, and Rhiannon Henry. The team also won silver and bronze medals.
Double Paralympic Champion Eleanor Simmonds won her second title of the competition and lowered the world record in the women’s SM6 200m Individual Medley.
The British Gas Team secured all of the podium places after impressive performances from Simmonds, Natalie Jones and Elizabeth Johnson throughout the final.
Jones had the lead for much of the race but it was Simmonds that managed to sneak the touch ahead of Jones.
As the race entered the Freestyle leg Simmonds lay just behind Jones but with her speed she took the race with 15m to go.
Simmonds touched in 3:08.80 to not only take the gold but smash the world record by almost ten seconds.
“I am really happy with that,” Simmonds said. “It was a really tough race but I knew it would be after Iceland. I knew Natalie was going to push me all the way so I worked hard. It was really hard to get that medal.
“I knew that in the last 50m I had a chance to take her and I saw her in the last 50m and I just pushed it.”
Jones finished in a time of 3:09.88 to take the silver medal and Johnson won bronze in 3:17.47.
The women’s 4x100m Freestyle 34 point relay saw the British Gas Team smash the world record on their way to an impressive victory.
The team, which consisted of Stephanie Millward, Eleanor Simmonds, Lauren Stedman and Louise Watkin, put in a commanding performance through the race
The team touched home first to take the gold medal and lower the world record to 4:26.20.
“I think we all did a really fantastic job in that race tonight,” Steadman said. “We were all up against tough competitors in our legs. Steph did well to put us in the lead at the start and Eleanor held off competitors from higher classes than her.
“I wanted to get ahead before the takeover to give Louise an advantage and she did a great job to bring us home."
The United States came in second place in a time of 4:35.61 and Australia won the bronze in 4:37.04.
Rhiannon Henry got the session of finals off to a good start with a gold and a British record in the women’s S13 100m Butterfly.
Henry swam a strong race and kept in touch of her rival Joanna Mendak but the Polish athlete moved away from Henry in the final 25m.
Henry touched in 1:06.12 to win her gold medal and knock almost a second off the British record. Prudence Watt took the silver in a time of 1:06.83 and bronze went to Teigan Van Roosmalen (Australia) won bronze in 1:08.64.
Kate Grey became a World medallist after winning silver in the women’s SB9 100m Breaststroke.
Grey looked strong throughout the race and touched in a time of 1:21.14 to take the medal and the British record.
Gold was won by Nina Ryabova (Russia) after touching in 1:21.00 and bronze went to Sophie Pascoe (New Zealand) in 1:21.16. Team-mate Louise Watkin finished in fourth in a time of 1:21.53
Head Coach Lars Humer commented: “It was a really strong day of racing for the team today. Not only have we seen strong overall races we have seen real strength through the final 15m of the race.
“Short course racing is all about race skills and a lot of our athletes excelled in the last 15m of their races.
“The women’s relay was really good. We are building that team for the future and we have Eleanor [Simmonds] competing alongside older athletes which really anchors the team for the future.
“The men put in a good effort in the relay but we are missing David Roberts, that isn’t to take anything away from the guys that swam tonight because it was a good job.
“It was good to see Kate Grey get the silver and Rhiannon Henry has done a great job tonight. She has come back from the injury that stopped her competing in Reykjavik and won her race her.”
