One of the last British swimmers to start her campaign but Charlotte Henshaw made every second count as she took bronze in the women’s S6 100m breaststroke at the Paralympic Games in Rio.
Henshaw touched the wall in 1:37.79, 2.4 seconds behind 15-year-old Tiffany Thomas Kane of Australia who took gold, with USA’s Sophia Elizabeth Herzog in silver.
29-year-old Henshaw, who won silver in the event at London 2012, had earlier broke the Paralympic record with a time of 1:38.11, only for Kane to lower it, firstly in her heat and then in the final.
Mansfield’s Henshaw battled for bronze against ParalympicsGB teammate Ellie Simmonds, who was forced to settle for fourth place, setting a time of 1:39.46.
Henshaw said: “That was hard work, it hurt a lot. I felt really relaxed going into it, I went quicker than the heats but I’m disappointed with the time.
“But I always say people shouldn’t dismiss a medal at the Paralympic Games, it’s a great thing to be here.
“It’s very hard to get a medal now, so to get on the podium at 29, I’m quite happy with that.”
Four-time Paralympian Claire Cashmore finished fifth in the S9 100m butterfly, a three-place improvement on her result in the same event at London 2012.
She stopped the clock in 1:09.46, 1.56 seconds behind Chinese gold medallist Xu Jialing of China, with Spain’s Sarai Gascon in second and Hungary’s Zsofia Konkoly in third.
And ParalympicsGB’s 4x100m freestyle relay team – consisting of Stephanie Millward, Amy Marren, Susie Rodgers and Alice Tai – had to settle for fourth place in 4:26.95.
Australia took the gold with a new world record time, touching the wall just over ten seconds ahead of the Brits.
Tai said: "That was a really hard relay to be part of, we knew the teams were tough and we went in confident but we've got to be happy with the time."