EUROPEAN PARALYMPIC SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Venue: Reyjkavik, Iceland Dates: 18-24 October
Coverage:Highlights on the red button and BBC Sport website; live commentary on BBC 5 live sports extra

Simmonds has continued her good form since Beijing

Paralympic champion Ellie Simmonds led the way as Britain swimmers won four golds on the opening day of the IPC European Championships in Iceland.

Simmonds, 14, who won two golds in Beijing, won the S6 400m freestyle in five minutes 37.31 seconds.

The other British victories came from Jonathan Fox in 400m freestyle, Stephanie Millward in 100m butterfly and Jim Anderson in 50m freestyle.

"I'm really happy to have the title but I wanted to go faster," said Simmonds.

"I knew I was in the lead but it was good to win the race by that much."

Simmonds went out quickly in the final but was pushed by team-mate Natalie Jones over the first 50m before pulling clear.

Jones finished second in a new personal best time of 5:54.77 - beating her previous best by seven seconds, with Nyree Lewis fourth.

Fox held off the challenge of Croatia's Mihovil Spanja to claim gold in the S7 400m freestyle by just 0.34 seconds.

"That was a tough race and winning the gold has left me speechless," he admitted.

"I just wanted to get out there and I got a good start and went out there fast and just tried to hold onto my speed."

European record holder Millward just failed to beat her personal best in winning the S9 100m butterfly.

Millward, who missed out on a medal in Beijing, looked strong over the first 50m but finished in 1:10.78, 0.17 seconds outside her record and admitted it had been a tough race for her physically.

"It was a good swim but it would have been nice to have broken my European record but I'm still ecstatic to be champion."

Teenager Elizabeth Simpkin won bronze thanks to a strong second half of the race with Claire Cashmore in fifth.

Scot Anderson also got his campaign off to a winning start with gold in the men's S2 50m freestyle.

Although he made a slow start, his experience showed over the final 25m as he secured his first international gold medal in five years with a time of 1:09.24.

"It feels wonderful," he said. "I didn't get a great start but I knew I just had to go for it after that and I managed to pull it back. I want more gold medals from the rest of this competition."

Elsewhere, there were silver medals for Anthony Stephens (S5 50m freestyle) and Eleni Papadopolous (S10 100m butterfly), who is competing in her first major international competition.

Thomas Young and Sean Fraser were second and third respectively in the S8 100m backstroke while there was also a bronze for Matt Whorwood in the S6 400m freestyle.

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