Britain Finish Worlds on a High

by Rebecca Roberts, 23.08.10

Success in the swimming pool for British swimmers continued last week with GB’s disability swimmers the latest to make their mark on the international scene.

At last weeks IPC Swimming World Championships in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, English Institute of Sport (EIS) support staff worked alongside the British Disability Swimming squad, powered by British Gas, seeing a total of 52 medals, 16 of which gold, which left them 4^th in the medal table.

With the London 2012 Paralympic Games marking its two year countdown this weekend, the swimming squad put in a timely performance to show the world that they can compete at the highest level of international competition.

Whilst the medals kept on coming, so did the world records with Ellie Simmonds, Charlotte Henshaw, Harriet Lee, Rhiannon Henry, Jonathan Fox and Sascha Kindred amongst those who smashed world records throughout the week.

The final day of competition saw Daniel Pepper adding gold in the S14 200m freestyle to his 100m breastroke title with nine other medallists, including Kindred and James Crisp on the last day of competition.

National performance director John Atkinson told BBC Sport; “There have been many pleasing aspects of the week for me. We saw 12 individuals win individual golds which shows the depth of talent that we have in the team.

“This has been a great and professional team and one of the best that I have seen or worked with.”

EIS support staff including Physiologist Catherine Gilby, Performance Analyst Joe Taylor, Performance Nutritionist Michael Naylor, Physiotherapist Paul Martin and Soft Tissue Therapist Kathrine Crompton all worked to keep athletes ready to compete and recovery effectively during the competition.

The squad predominantly train at their Manchester base, with EIS support staff from the Sportcity site, working alongside the programme.  

For more information and detailed results from the event, visit the 2010 IPC Swimming World Championship website here.