Bethany Firth was just one of a number of ParalympicsGB swimmers to stand out during the first session of Rio 2016 as she set a new world record on the way to qualifying for tonight’s 100m backstroke S14 final.
The County Down swimmer and reigning Paralympic champion clocked 1:04.53 in her heat to qualify fastest for this evening’s final with teammate Jessica-Jane Applegate also making the medal race after finishing third fastest overall (1:08.41).
Firth said: “I’m very happy with the heat swim, I really wasn’t expecting to go how I did. I’m really happy to be a part of the team, everyone is really supporting each other here, it’s a great atmosphere so I can’t wait for the final.”
Nova Centurion swimmer Ollie Hynd was fastest (4:31.90) into the men’s 400m freestyle S8 final where he will be joined by City of Sunderland swimmer Josef Craig who was seventh fastest overall (4:41.93).
London 2012 silver medallist and current world record holder Hynd said: “I’m happy with my heat swim, the goal going in was to win the heat to try and get as good a lane in the final as possible and I did that. It felt really comfortable so I’m looking forward to the final.”
Defending Paralympic 100m S7 champion Jonathan Fox won his heat in 1:11.37 to make the final and Glasgow’s Andrew Mullen is also set to be in the mix in the men’s 200m freestyle S5 medal race after posting 2:43.20 for third fastest overall.
Reigning Paralympic champion Fox said: “I took it pretty easy in that race, I focused on the first 50 and then backed off in the second 50m. I’m going to go all in for the final, hopefully that can be a world record but we’ll see what happens.”
Stephanie Millward booked her place in the final of the women’s 400m freestyle S8 while Harriet Lee did likewise in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB9 final after a heat time of 1:21.97.
Five-time Paralympic medallist Millward said: “The heat swim was perfect, it was exactly what I wanted. My coach said don’t go faster than five minutes so I went 4:59 which, although faster than five minutes, it’s just faster so it was what I wanted.
“I worked the turns, I worked the start so it was perfect. It’s got me exactly in the right place for the final.”
Elsewhere Trowbridge’s Aaron Moores marked his second Paralympics with a fifth place finish in the heat of the men’s 100m backstroke S14 in a time of 1:07.36 although it was not enough to progress to the final.