Kindred has competed in four Paralympic Games over his career

Britain's top Paralympic swimmers dominated with 12 world and 22 European records at the Nationwide Short Course Championships in Sheffield.

Sascha Kindred led the way with three world records (SM6 100m & 200m individual medley and 50m butterfly).

Heather Frederiksen set two in the S8 100m backstroke and 100m butterfly.

The pair are among a 19-strong British squad who will compete in the IPC World Short Course Championships which start in Rio de Janeiro next week.

Six-time Paralympic gold medallist Kindred, from Leominster, improved his own records in the indvidual medley events and broke Spain's Daniel Vidal's mark of 33.21 seconds in the butterfly event with a time of 31.80.

He also set a European record in the S6 50m backstroke and his performances saw him named outstanding male swimmer of the championships and gives him a boost ahead of Rio.

"It's been a great weekend and shows I'm in good shape before going out to the Worlds," he said.

"I'm swimming in four events in Rio and ranked number one in three of them, so hopefully it means coming home with some medals."

City of Salford star Frederiksen smashed her own short course world record in the backstroke with her new time of 1:11.39 knocking over five seconds off the time she set at the same event last year.

Her butterfly performance saw her clock 1:14.05, beating compatriot Rachael Latham's mark of 1:22.93 set three years ago.

Manchester's Natalie Massey won the outstanding female swimmer award after she set a new world record in the S14 100m individual medley.

Actor Ralf Little congratulates Sascha Kindred on his achievements

Former Paralympic champion James Crisp, who missed last year's Beijing Paralympics through injury, marked his return with a new world record in the S9 400m freestyle.

There were also world records for Beijing gold medallists Liz Johnson (S6 50m breaststroke), Sam Hynd (SM8 individual medley) and Matt Walker (SM7 100m individual medley) as well as Jonathan Fox (S7 50m backstroke) and Ben Procter (SM14 200m individual medley) but all records are subject to ratification.

Among those at the event in Sheffield was Royle Family star Ralf Little who donated a day of his time to the event and joined the many Disability Sport Events volunteers.

"It's been incredible. At first the swimmers were thinking I was a lookalike! I mean - why would anyone want to be a Ralf Little lookalike?" he joked.

"It's been so much fun and there's been a lot of banter. There are some great characters out there and I've been delighted to watch them do their thing."

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