“I genuinely can’t believe it"... Louise Fiddes takes Paralympic gold in Paris

A stunning swim from Louise Fiddes saw her take gold in the Women’s SB14 100m Breaststroke to cap off another golden night for Paralympics GB in Paris.

Less than 20 minutes after her roommate Ellie Challis won GB’s first gold of the night, Fiddes went and added Great Britain’s 18th medal and 13th gold in the pool after just five days in the French capital.

She did it with a stunning final 50m’s where she moved ahead and held off the challenge of Brazilian twins Beatriz and Debora Carneiro Borges.

The Brazilian duo had qualified fastest for the final with Debora almost a second faster than anyone else in the heats.

Fiddes lined up in lane six after qualifying fourth but put in the race of her life to improve on her heats time by almost two seconds over two lengths to take the crown.

She got off to a strong start, matching the Brazilian’s stroke for stroke and touching in second spot at the 50m mark.

But a strong turn saw Fiddes come up from the water in the lead and she powered her way to the finish, holding off the twins to claim her first Paralympic gold.

Speaking to Channel 4 after the race, a shocked Fiddes couldn’t quite believe what she had achieved at La Defense Arena.

Tearing up she said: “I genuinely can’t even believe it. It means everything – there were so many years where I felt like my dream was slipping away. Only in the last year have I felt like I’ve been getting back to it.

“I’m not sure it will ever sink in, I’m just so over the moon.

“I’m in great shape, got to thank my coach for that. It was just pure determination, I came off that turn, had a little glance and I was like I’m in gold position, I need to get down that other end!”

“It’s a dream come true that we’ve done it together”

Fiddes finished in a time of 1:15.47, just over half a second ahead of Debora with her sister Beatriz less than a second off in third spot.

Great Britain’s Olivia Newman-Baronius put in a strong swim of her own to finish eighth in the final with a time of 1:22.20.

It added to a strong debut Games for the teenager, who won gold as part of Paralympics GB’s S14 Mixed 4x100m Freestyle Relay team yesterday.

But it was Fiddes golden moment that stole the show who admitted that she was spurred on by watching her close friend Challis moments before her race.

She added: “I was on the edge of my seat even though she won it by a mile. I was like if she can do it then I can do it – roomies you know.

“And in Tokyo we both got silver and we both got gold here so it’s incredible.

“She was waiting for me after my race. We ran over to each other and had a big hug. We almost started crying.

“I can’t believe that we both got gold on the same day about 10 minutes apart. In between heats and finals we were gassing each other up in the room for tonight.

“It’s a dream come true that we’ve done it together.”

Fiddes also took time to comment on the support of her family, particularly her father who has been her number one supporter throughout her career.

“He always believed in me, even from when I was little kid. There’s not been a single day he hasn’t believed that I could get gold. And I can’t wait to see him and celebrate with him. I think he might cry.”

Stewart’s superb Paralympic debut

The only other British swimmer in action on night five was Plymouth Leander swimmer Harry Stewart.

He finished fifth in the Men’s SB14 100m Breaststroke final, clocking in with a time of 1:05.75 in a close contest in Paris.

It was an impressive Paralympic debut for the 20-year-old who set a massive personal best in the heats and was just 0.06 off the time as he backed up that display in the final.

After the race he said: “I tried my very, very best. I’m still happy with the performance, fifth in the world is not too bad on my Paralympic debut.

“I think just the change from this morning, I was more relaxed this morning. I think the nerves crept up on me a little bit, definitely felt it a bit in the back end and I tightened up a little bit.

“But I’ll improve on it for next time and we make mistakes so we can learn from them don’t we.

“It was a very close race, from this morning it could’ve been anyone’s race. Congratulations to Nick (Nicholas Bennett who won gold). It was a fantastic race from everyone and maybe if I started coming back a bit earlier I could’ve been in the medals but never mind.”

Stewart also spoke about the memorable moment of being able to go out into the arena and look up at his family.

He added: “It was a great experience, because me and my mum have been through so much this year. Just seeing up there and hopefully making her proud just feels amazing.”

There’s still plenty more swimming to come at the Paralympic Games, with the programme not concluding until Saturday 7 September. You can find out who’s in action when and how to watch here.