Paralympic champion Brock Whiston won gold in the women’s SM8 200m individual medley as Great Britain set a new world record at the World Para Swimming Championships in Singapore.
Whiston backed up her Paralympic title from 12 months ago with a season’s best time of two minutes 40.25 seconds, albeit five seconds slower than the world record she set in 2019.
The 28-year-old completed her medal set at this year’s meet after winning silver in the 400m freestyle and bronze in the 100m butterfly.
“I felt like coming into it I had a lot of pressure on myself,” Whiston said.
“No one else put the pressure on me but after winning gold at Paris I just wanted to come here and prove that it wasn’t just a one off and that I deserve to be on the podium. I can’t stop smiling, I’m super happy.”
Later in the session GB triumphed in the mixed S14 4x100m medley relay to claim a 13th gold medal of the championships.
Poppy Maskill, Harry Stewart, Will Ellard and Bethany Firth produced a world record time of four minutes 2.86 secs, almost five seconds faster than the previous record set by Australia at the 2023 championships.
Maskill and Stewart put in firm foundations for the team over the opening backstroke and breaststroke legs, before Ellard held off Brazil across the 100m butterfly and Firth surged to victory on the freestyle leg.
“I’m so happy! These guys are amazing, they’re so good to swim with and I think we’re just setting the standard for what is to come,” said Firth.
With the format to be introduced at the 2028 LA Paralympics, Ellard said: “Now that it’s a Paralympic event I’m sure we’ll try at different things to keep aiming to get better and better [in this format].”
Faye Rogers set a British record time of 1.00.46 to finish second in the women’s S10 100m freestyle and win her fourth medal of the week in Singapore.
Bruce Dee set another national record but missed out on a medal in the men’s SB6 100m breaststroke final by a tenth of a second, while 14-year-old Iona Winnifrith missed the podium by the same margin in the women’s S7 50m freestyle despite producing a lifetime best of 33.77 secs.
China top the medal table heading into the final day with 16 golds, with Italy second with 15 and Ukraine and the United States both on 14.
