 Ellie Simmonds won comfortably in Rio de Janeiro |
Paralympic champion Ellie Simmonds won the gold medal in her 400m freestyle race in the IPC World Short Course Championships in Brazil. Simmonds, 15, from Walsall, led from the first turn at 25 metres and touched in five minutes 32.45 seconds. She said: "I wasn't well last week but I knew I would pick it up. It was a hard race but I felt good." Two other Britons won bronze medals - Thomas Young (S8 100m backstroke) and Stephanie Millward (S8 100m butterfly). Young finished in a British record time of 1:05.80 as Australian Peter Leek set a world record of 1:03.18 to take gold. Young said: "That was a tough swim. I went into the race wanting to get a medal and a personal best and I achieved both. I knocked a second off my personal best and I am pretty chuffed with that. "  | 606: DEBATE |
Millward also broke the British record, touching in 1:09.24, with Spain's Sarai Gascon Moreni winning the race in 1:07.21. The British swimmer said: "I had a nice race (in the heat) this morning and I was hoping to follow it up this evening but it wasn't there. I hope I will have it for the 100m backstroke." Lars Humer, the British team's head coach said he was happy with the day's results, adding: "We have proven that we can cope with the conditions at this meet. "There is unpredictable weather, it is a slow meet and the travelling is difficult but everyone has adapted well. "We have absorbed the conditions and now we know what we are up against we can progress."
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