Press Release

ParalympicGB swimmers show promise

11th September 2008

The ParalympicsGB swimming team saw seven athletes progress to their finals after some promising performances throughout the heats of the fifth day at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.

Paralympic Champion Heather Frederiksen continued where she left off last night by swimming faster than she has swam before after knocking three seconds off her personal best time in the SM8 200m Individual Medley.  

Frederiksen got an excellent start and led through the butterfly and the backstroke but the power of the Olesya Vladykina's breaststroke was too much for Frederiksen and she lost her lead.

Vladykina won the race in 2:53.72 with Frederiksen just behind her in a new personal best time of 2:53.95.

"I just swam a three second personal best and that is great," Frederiksen said. "It was a high paced race and I knew it was going to be tough. But I kept my head down and swam my own race and I will do the same tonight and keep my head down and see what I can do."

Rachael Latham swam in the second heat and finished in 13th place overall with a time of 3:08.25 to just miss out on a final place. .

World record holder Dave Roberts took to the water in the men's S7 400m Freestyle aiming to continue the success from the relay last night.

Roberts swam in the second heat and found himself pushed throughout the first 300m by the American Lantz Lamback. But the defending Paralympic Champion used his experience to bring the victory home in a time of 5:04.31.

"That felt easy this morning," Roberts said. "I wanted to price a point to the guys out there and push Lamback as much as possible.

"I am aiming to go faster in the final and hopefully go on world record time. I know I can reduce the time from my heat in the final."

ParalympicsGB swimmers Andrew Lindsay and Jonathan Fox were competing in the first heat of the morning and Lindsay always looked in charge of the race and after finishing in 5:06.31 he qualified as third fastest for the final.

Fox was unlucky to miss final place after qualifying ninth with a time of 5:31.78.

The women's SM9 200m Individual Medley saw three British athletes, Claire Cashmore, Kate Grey and Louise Watkin, vying for vital final places.

The first heat saw Watkin and Grey competing and although Grey had a good start and looked strong through her butterfly and backstroke she finished in fifth place with a time of 2:48.15.

Watkin showed her strength in the breaststroke as she caught the leader, Emilie Gral (France), and as they turned for the final 50m Watkin had over a one second lead on the French swimmer.

Watkin won her heat in a time of 2:42.08 and qualified as third fastest for the final. Grey just missed her final place after qualifying in 11th place overall.

"I had no idea I was ahead at the final turn," Watkin said. "It was a tough race and I had to push hard. The time was ok but I wanted to get a pb. That is my aim for tonight."

Cashmore swam in the same heat as Natalie Du Toit (South Africa) and with Du Toit swimming close to her personal best Cashmore pushed hard to keep up with the high pace.

At the half way point Cashmore found herself in fourth place but after swimming the fastest breaststroke leg in the heat she moved up to third place and closed the gap on Du Toit and Canada's Stephanie Dixon.

Cashmore finished in third place in the heat with a time of 2:42.11 and qualified as fourth fastest for the final.

European record holder Sam Hynd swam in the heats of the men's SM8 200m Individual Medley this morning and looked confident having two races already under his belt.

Hynd's final 100m is always his strongest and he managed to move from third to second place after overtaking China's Hengheng Tian. Hynd finished in second place behind Xiaofu Wang (China), who was subsequently disqualified to give Hynd the second fastest time for the final with 2:31.95.

Robert Welbourn didn't look his best in this morning's heat of the men's SM10 200m Individual Medley but qualified as seventh fastest to secure his final place with a time of 2:21.25.