Swimmer Hynd claims first British gold in Glasgow
Paralympic champion Oliver Hynd landed the British Para-Swimming team’s first gold medal of the Glasgow 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships with a European record on day three at Tollcross.
The 20-year old successfully defended his SM8 200m Individual Medley title while there were also medals for Andrew Mullen, Hannah Russell, Thomas Hamer, Jessica-Jane Applegate and Sascha Kindred as all six British finalists reached the podium on the night.
Hynd has been untouchable in the SM8 200m Individual Medley since winning gold at the European Championships in 2011, claiming the Paralympic title at London 2012, the World Championship title in 2013 and winning both European and Commonwealth golds last season.
The Nova Centurion swimmer ensured it was a successful return to the site of his Commonwealth victory as he dominated the final in Glasgow, lowering his own European marker with a 2:22.40 effort to finish more than four seconds clear of the field.
And Hynd admitted he has his sights firmly set on breaking the world record of 2:20.92 as he aims to defend his Paralympic crown in 12 months time.
“I’m really happy with the medal but I’m actually a little disappointed with the time – I thought I had a bit more in me,” said Hynd. “But it’s a PB and going into Rio I’ve still got the world record to shoot for. Obviously I need to keep working on that but I think it’s going to give me that extra little push I need for next year.”
Russell was just a fingertip away from adding a second gold to the home nation’s tally as she claimed silver in the S12 100m Backstroke, just 0.04 seconds off the top spot.
The 18-year old Brit took the initiative in the final, turning first at the half-way stage, but was overhauled in the final strokes as Russia's Darya Stukalova touched in 1:06.75 in a blanket finish with Russell on 1:06.79.
“It’s been an event I’ve been working on all year so I am a bit disappointed to be honest,” said Russell, who set the world record of 1:06.15 at Tollcross earlier in the season. “Moving to the National Performance Centre in Manchester this season has been the best move of my life. My coach Rob Greenwood has really helped me and all the other swimmers there have pushed me on.
“I’ll go back and sit down with Rob and we’ll talk about the small things we can tweak to improve my time again next year.”
Glasgow-born Mullen clinched his second medal – and second silver – of the meet with a British record in the S5 200m Freestyle.
Brazil’s Paralympic champion Daniel Dias dominated the final to defend his World title with a 2:27.28 effort for gold.
But the 18-year old Brit was cheered on to silver by the home crowd, striking three seconds off his PB from the heats to come home in 2:41.35 – nearly five seconds faster than his 2:46.27 effort to claim the European title 12 months ago.
“I’m really happy with that swim,” said Mullen. “I’ve been doing a lot of freestyle work this season and this is one of the events I really enjoy swimming so I’m just happy to do a best time.
“Daniel is a fast competitor and one of the best Paralympic swimmers there’s been but I just focus the technical elements of my own race and go back and try and improve my best times.”
Paralympic champion Applegate clinched her first medal of the Championships with S14 200m Freestyle silver.
While Russia’s Victoriia Shabalina lowered her world record from the heats with a 2:04.98 effort for gold, the 18-year old Brit clocked a personal best to follow her home, touching in 2:06.98 with the Netherlands' Marlou Van Der Kulk nearly seven seconds back in third on 2:11.73.
"Nobody ever wants to settle for silver obviously but I know I put my all into that and I got a PB at the end of the day," said Applegate.
"I could tell after 100m that she was going for the record but she must be training so hard so good for her. I want it more than ever now so I’m going to be training ten times more than I ever have for Rio."
Hamer ensured GB won medals in both S14 200m Freestyle finals as he marked his IPC Swimming World Championship debut with bronze.
Once again, a Russian swimmer set the standard as Viacheslav Emeliantsev took gold in 1:56.87 but 16-year old Hamer underlined his potential to clinch bronze in a British record 1:58.42 with Iceland's Paralympic champion Jon Margeir Sverrisson second on 1:58.06.
FInally, Kindred continued his remarkable record of having medalled at every staging of the IPC Swimming World Championships, coming away from his first final at his seventh Worlds with S6 50m Butterfly bronze.
The 37-year old, who will be looking to qualify for his sixth Paralympic Games next year, lowered his own British record from 2011 as he touched in 32.01 behind Chinese swimmers Zheng Tao (31.17) and Xu Qing (31.25).
