Another clean sweep for GB as young Poppy Maskill impresses on world stage

It was two clean sweeps in as many days for Great Britain at the World Para Swimming Championships, with Poppy Maskill among the medal winners.

Bethany Firth claimed her second gold of the competition as she retained the Women’s 100m Backstroke S14 world title.

She added the backstroke title to the 200m Freestyle S14 title won on the opening day.

Seventeen-year-old Alsager swimmer Poppy Maskill pushed Firth all the way to secure an impressive silver medal at her debut World Championships.

The pair were followed by teammate Jessica-Jane Applegate who held on for the bronze medal despite the best efforts of Brazil’s Ana Karolina Soares de Oliveira.

Firth touched the wall in 1:06.96, with Maskill just 0.63 behind as the youngster recorded a time of 1:07.59. Applegate’s bronze medal-winning time was 1:09.08.

Two golds in two days

Stephen Clegg doubled his medal tally for this competition after powering home in the Men’s 100m Butterfly S12 final.

Clegg is the world record holder in this event but was again battling with Paralympic champion, Raman Salei, for the top spot.

The swimmer from Azerbaijan beat Clegg to the touch by just 0.06 in Tokyo, but this time around it was the British swimmer who came from 0.24 behind at the turn to take the win.

A strong final 50m saw Clegg finish just outside his world record time (56.75), touching the wall in 57.32.

Salei settled for silver in a time of 58.41, with Ukraine’s Illia Yaremenko (1:00.59) taking the bronze medal.

Grace grabs bronze

Grace Harvey clinched her first medal of the championships as she stepped on the podium in the Women’s 100m Freestyle S6 event.

After setting a personal best time but missing out on a medal in the 100m Backstroke S6 final, Harvey went one better in freestyle final.

She finished strongly to clock a time of 1:14.60 and earn the bronze behind Colombia’s Sara Vargas Blanco (1:12.75) and Anna Hontar (1:12.80) of Ukraine.

Redfern races to third

In the Women’s 100m Breaststroke SB13 final, Rebecca Redfern won another bronze for Great Britain.

There wasn’t much to separate the top three at the turn as they all went head-to-head for the gold medal.

But it was USA’s Colleen Young and Germany’s Elena Krawzow who pulled away, with the former winning gold and the latter taking home the silver medal.

Redfern finished in a time of 1:16.45 – 1.66 behind the eventual winner.

Close finish in the relay

Maisie Summers-Newton got Great Britain off to a strong start in the Mixed 4x50m Freestyle Relay 20pts final.

Both Will Perry and Lyndon Longhorne swam the middle legs before a determined swim from Ellie Challis rounded off GB’s efforts.

The team looked destined for bronze before Italy snatched third place in the final few metres, seeing them finish just over a second ahead and dropping Great Britain out of the medal spots.

The British quartet finished fourth in 2:40.95. A dominant Brazilian team took gold, followed Mexico in second.

Earlier in the session, Longhorne managed a seventh place finish in the Men’s 100m Freestyle S4 final with a time of 1:37.11.

Other performances saw a trio of British swimmers feature in the Men’s 100m Backstroke S14 final.

Jordan Catchpole took fifth ahead of Louis Lawlor in sixth and Reece Dunn touched in eighth.

Toni Shaw was another to earn a fifth place finish, this time in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley SM9 final. In seventh was her GB teammate, Brock Whiston.

And it was another seventh place finish for Sam Downie as he continued to rack up the experience at his first World Championships. He clocked a time of 1:13.63 in the Men’s 100m Backstroke S8 final.