The British Gas Disability Swimming team added eleven medals to their already impressive medal tally after some strong performance on the second day of competition at the IPC Swimming European Championships.
The Brits sealed an impressive gold and silver in the women’s SB6 100m Breaststroke as Charlotte Henshaw won her first European title.
Henshaw was pushed all the way to her victory by team-mate Liz Johnson and after they both got off to good starts they were swimming stroke for stroke at the 25m mark but Henshaw started to move ahead as they approached the wall.
After the turn Henshaw had a small advantage over the world record holder and dug in to extend it through the final quarter of the race.
Henshaw finished in 1:40.50 to win her gold medal and Johnson touched in 1:41.36 to take the silver.
“I lowered my personal best this morning,” Henshaw said. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet that I have won but I am really happy to have won it because it has been a long time coming.
“I have moved back to Nottingham and that has really helped me because I am more relaxed and it helped me bring out that performance today.”
Johnson commented: “I am disappointed for Mark [Skimming], who is my new coach, because he has worked so hard to include me in the programme in Bath. But I know that I did everything that he asked and I couldn’t thank him more. However, I couldn’t have got the medal if I hadn’t got the work under my belt with Billy [Pye].”
The bronze medal went to Ukraine’s Oksana Khrul in 1:47.82.
Multi Paralympic medallist Louise Watkin became European Champion for the first time in the women’s SM9 200m Individual Medley.
It was Spain’s Sarai Gascon Moreno that went out fastest from the start but Watkin swam an excellent Breaststroke leg to pull back some of the lead.
The British Gas Swimmer’s turn onto Freestyle was excellent as she took over the lead and she showed her strength to push ahead and win the gold in a time of 2:38.52.
Poland’s Paulina Kamilla Wozniak won the silver in 2:40.85 and Emilie Gral (France) won bronze in 2:41.27. Brits Kate Grey and Lauren Steadman finished in fifth and sixth respectively. Grey touched in 2:44.22 and Steadman finished in 2:46.40.
Eleni Papadopoulos, who won her first major international medal yesterday, went into the final of the women’s SM10 200m Individual Medley looking confident.
Papadopoulos knew team-mate Emma Cattle and Elodie Lorandi (France) would put up tough competition.
Lorandi secured the gold medal in the final 10m and touched home in a time of 2:42.19 and Papadopoulos won her second silver of the competition after finishing in 2:43.57.
“I am really shocked,” Papadopoulos said. “I thought I was in third and I looked at the score board and I saw that it said second. I went into it ranked third and came out with silver and a personal best which is great.
“To have medalled in my two main events is a real boost for me. My confidence is really growing at the moment and I am really happy.”
The bronze was won by Nina Ryabova (Russia) in 2:44.18 and British Gas swimmer Emma Cattle touched in 2:45.99 in sixth place.
Emma Hollis, who is making her European Championship debut, took an impressive silver medal in the women’s SB7 100m Breaststroke.
Lisa Den Braber (Holland) took the lead early on and dominated the race and she had the gold medal secured after touching in 1:34.57.
Hollis touched in 1:43.29 to knock two seconds off her British record and win the silver medal.
The bronze went to Germany’s Annika Geller in 1:56.06.
Claire Cashmore won her first medal of the Championships in the women’s SB6 100m Breaststroke after finishing in third place in a race that knocked three seconds off the world record.
Cashmore fought hard and secured her bronze after finishing in 1:23.61 just 0.12 seconds off silver medal position.
The new world record holder is Olesya Vladykina (Russia) and she won the gold in 1:17.60. The silver medal went to Paulina Kamila Wozniak (Poland) in 1:23.53.
David Hill finished just outside of the medals in the men’s SM9 200m Individual Medley after finishing in sixth place in a time of 2:30.36.
In the women’s SB13 saw Lauren Hobbins finish in eighth place overall after touching home in a time of 1:30.96.
Head Coach Lars Humer enjoyed seeing another successful day in the pool: “We saw a lot of personal bests today from a lot of athletes which shows progression and for us that is really important.
“One of the things we worked hard on in the last quadrennial was the development of the race and we are seeing the benefit of that here. The finishing of a lot of races has been really strong and we are winning the really close races which is great.
“We are also seeing a lot of youngsters coming through which is really good. Emma [Hollis], Eleni [Papadopoulos] and Thomas [Young] have worked really hard and performed really well. Charlotte [Henshaw] is another athlete that has showed a lot of promise through the last quadrennial and it is beginning to show through.”
