The British Para-Swimming Team won three golds, one silver and one bronze medal on the fourth day of action at the IPC Swimming European Championships in Madeira.
Paralympic silver medallist Charlotte Henshaw reclaimed her
2009 title in the SB6 100m Breaststroke in a strong swim that saw her dominate
the race.
Henshaw swam an excellently timed race to carve out almost an nine second lead through the final 50m to touch in a time of 1:37.55.
“I wasn’t able to compete in the 2014 Europeans and I was really excited about coming here and trying to get that gold back that I got in 2009 so it feels great,” Henshaw said.
“A lot of my main rivals aren’t European but it’s always nice to come and test yourself. It doesn’t matter who is in the call room next to you, you always want to perform well in those big finals and this is really good prep for that.
“It’s good to get a marker down now and I’ll know what I’ve got to do for the next few months. I’m excited to hear the National anthem again. I think that’s the highlight of anyone’s sporting career and I’m going to give a bit of a sing when I’m up there.”
Silver went to Nicole Turner (Ireland) who touched in 1:46.29 and bronze was won by Nina Kozlova (Ukraine) who finished in 1:51.47.
World silver medallist Scott Quin won gold in the SB14 100m Breaststroke in a strong swim that saw him beat Paralympic Backstroke Champion Marc Evers (Netherlands).
Quin got to 50m first touching just ahead of Artem Pavlenko (Russia) and pushed on through the final length of the pool to touch in a time of 1:07.29.
“I’m kind of over the moon right now,” Quin said. “I can just relax now and go back and sit down with my coaches and see what I can do to make myself go quicker.
“That swim was pretty well planned out with what I discussed with the team up in the stands and Kris Gilchrist back at home, so I just stuck to what I know best.”
Silver was taken by Pavlenko in 1:07.63 and Adam Ismael Wenham (Norway) secured bronze in 1:08.60. Tom Hamer finished in seventh place in a new personal best time of 1:13.45.
The evening began with Stephanie Slater returning to European action to win gold in the S8 100m Butterfly.
Slater came from behind to take the title and put in a storming final 50m to overtake Katerina Istomina (Ukraine) and touch the wall first in a time of 1:09.67
Istomina won silver in 1:10.24 while bronze went to Olesia Vladykina (Russia) who finished in 1:17.62.
Bethany Firth won her first medal for Great Britain as she swam to silver in the SB14 100m Breaststroke after touching in a time of 1:14.31. Jessica-Jane Applegate finished in fifth in a new personal best time of 1:24.32.
In the S13 100m Freestyle, Hannah Russell won bronze after touching the wall in a time of 59.32.
Claire Cashmore and James Crisp finished in fourth place in the women’s and men’s SM9 200m Individual Medley. Cashmore touched in 2:39.69 while Crisp touched the way in his final event of the week in 2:23.33.