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Casson and Wills win 800m Free golds at World Champs 2017

Sophie Casson and Emma Wills won both won gold on day one of the World Masters Championships 2017 in Budapest.

Carnforth and District Otters swimmer Casson was the first to the wall in the 30-34 Yrs 800m Freestyle. She swam a new European record time to finish almost half a second ahead of the field.

Casson, who broke the world record in the 1500m Free at June’s British Masters Championships in Aberdeen, took gold in 8:58.94.

Rachael Kier of Silver City Masters clocked 9:27.15 to join Casson on the podium with silver. This was faster than her old British record of 9:28.62, set to win the British title in June.

York City Baths swimmer Wills took the only other gold medal in the opening session, winning the 35-39 Yrs 800m Free.

She led from the start of the race, finishing seven seconds in front of Roberta Maggioni of Italy at the final touch. Wills took the title in a time of 9:35.99.

Two bronze for Brits on opening night

Another two British Masters swimmers won bronze medals in the women’s 800m Freestyle in Hungary.

Both Sue Haigh and Doreen Gordon were the last two female medallists in the 800m free.

Tiverton swimmer Sue Haigh put in a great performance to complete the 65-59 Yrs podium, touching in 12:15.91.

Gordon finished in 15:22.03 in the 75-79 Yrs age group, beating Germany’s Anne Kreisel by over 24 seconds to claim the third spot of the podium.

Craig Thomas was the only British man to win a medal on the first day of competition.

The Bridgend County swimmer touched in 8:40.91 for silver in the youngest 25-29 Yrs age group, just over three seconds slower than his personal best time.

  • Click here for full results from the FINA World Masters Swimming Championships 2017.

Image credit: Budapest 2017 Facebook

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