Double Paralympic Champion Eleanor Simmonds gave the British Disability Swimming Team, powered by British Gas, the perfect start to competition by knocking four seconds off her world record in the S6 400m Freestyle.
The World Championships kicked off with the S6 men’s and women’s 400m Freestyle. Matt Whorwood got the Brits off to silver in the first race and the night just got better for the team as they took a total of ten medals.
With Mirjam de Koning-Peper pulling out of the race all eyes were on Simmonds to see if she could take any time off her own world record.
The 400m Paralympic Champion didn’t disappoint as she took charge of the race early on and at the half-way point she turned with almost a ten second lead over the field.
Simmonds began to race the clock and she pushed further ahead and as the race entered the final 50m she held a lead of almost 20 seconds.
The Swansea-based swimmers was crowned World Champion after knocking four seconds off her world record with a time of 5:27.64.
“I am so shocked with that,” Simmonds said. “The world record was always the aim for me but I didn’t expect to take that much of a chunk off it. I didn’t get a PB at the British Champs so I was hoping for it here.
“The plan for the race was to just go out as hard as I could. In the race I felt that I was racing it on my own and when I turned around to see that I had won it with a PB I was so happy.”
The silver medal went to Lingling Song from China in a time of 5:51.43 and fellow Brit Natalie Jones won the bronze after touching in 5:55.94.
Fran Williamson made an excellent start to her World Championship campaign with silver in the women’s S3 50m Freestyle. Williamson had an excellent final 25m and almost caught the leader but the wall came just too soon and she finished second in a time of 1:04.60.
“I feel quite good with that medal,” Williamson said. “It was quite unexpected but I really hoped I would have medalled in the race. I felt good in the water but I really didn’t realise how close to her I was when it finished.”
Stephanie Millward won her first medal of the World Championships with bronze in the women’s S9 100m Butterfly. She swam a strong race and touched in a time of 1:11.07.
Fran O’Connor finished in sixth place in the women’s S7 400m Freestyle with a time of 5:43.85. Robert Welbourn finished in seventh place in the men’s S10 100m Butterfly in 1:01.51. Charlotte Henshaw secured in a new personal best time of 3:04.56 in the women’s SM 8 200m Individual Medley as she finished in eighth place overall.
At the end of the action on the first night National Performance Director John Atkinson commented: “I feel satisfied with the performance of the British Team, powered by British Gas, at the World Championships in Eindhoven. Coming away with ten medals gives the team a solid start to the six-day meet which I know the athletes can build on.
“There was an outstanding effort from Eleanor Simmonds to break the world record. She swam much of the race against the clock and to come out with that result is testament to the work that she is undertaking at the High Performance Centre in Swansea with her coach Billy Pye.
“The number of medals from the 400m is promising and it shows the strength and depth that we have in that event and which we can build on as we look toward London 2012.
