Three English golds on opening night of IPC Euros 2016

Three English para-swimmers took home gold medals on the opening night of finals at the IPC Swimming European Championships 2016 in Madeira, Portugal.

The first medal came in the men’s S7 100m Backstroke which saw Jonathan Fox finish a second ahead of the rest of the field, touching in 1:10.62 for gold.

The world record holder has only just returned to international competitive swimming, but still asserted his dominance in the first finals session.

“I am pretty happy. Coming off our Rio trials last week and competing again and being around my time is pretty good,” said Fox.

“Having to miss Europeans in 2014 and Worlds in 2015 was tough but I’m back. Coming here and seeing the results of my training paying off is really really good.”

S9 swimmer Matt Wylie claimed his first gold medal on the international stage, touching in 25.85 in the 50m Freestyle.

“I couldn’t be happier with that really,” Wylie said. “It’s my first ever senior international medal so that’s great.

“I got the qualification time for Rio last week so I’m in a good place at the moment. I didn’t expect to win that race. I did expect to swim a little bit faster than that but coming away with the gold is really good.”

Hamer takes touch in S14 200m Freestyle

The third English gold came from S14 swimmer Tom Hamer, who took the touch in 1:57.96 for victory in the 200m Freestyle.

“I’m really happy with that swim,” said Hamer. “I went out easy this morning and swam a 2:09 so saved all of my energy for the final and it paid off.

“I’m over the moon with the gold medal and it’s given me confidence for the rest of the season.”

Nova Centurion’s Ollie Hynd also made waves on the opening session.

He beat his own PB in the morning’s heats and then again in the finals, swimming under a minute in the S8 100m Freestyle for the first time in his career to take silver in 59.88.

• Click here to view full results from the IPC Swimming European Championships 2016.

Photo credit: Pedro Vasconcelos / IPC