Over the weekend of 8-11 April 2021, the British Para–Swimming International Meet was held at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield. The event incorporated the opening event of the World Para Swimming World Series and Britain’s Paralympic trial meet.
You can read full coverage including athlete quotes on the Scottish Swimming website, with the below summarising how the Scottish representatives fared in the pool.
Day 1
S12 athlete Stephen Clegg (Edinburgh University) broke a British Record in the men’s 100m freestyle with a time of 53.72, which falls inside the qualification standard for the Paralympic games in Tokyo.
Louis Lawlor (City of Glasgow Swim Team) came very close to his S14 Scottish Record in the 100m freestyle, with his teammate Gavin Roberts as well as Conner Morrison (University of Aberdeen Performance Swim) setting personal bests for the event.
S9 swimmer Toni Shaw (University of Aberdeen Performance Swim) finished with a time of 1:03.71 in her 100m freestyle final, enough to claim the silver medal position for the world series event.
Day 2
Louis Lawlor was back in the pool finishing 0.2 seconds inside the S14 consideration time for Tokyo in the 100m backstroke final – this coming after having finished outside the consideration time in his earlier heat.
Scott Quinn (SB14) also finished safely within the Tokyo consideration time in the 100m breaststroke final, winning his race in a time of 1:05.97.
Behind Scott in the 100m breaststroke were Conner Morrison and Gavin Roberts making it an all Scottish top 3, with Roberts claiming a PB of 1:09:67. In 6th place came Jack Milne (Dundee City Aquatics) in 1:11:21.
Following this in the women’s 100m backstroke final, S13 athlete Abby Kane (University of Stirling) finished fourth in a time of 1:14.48.
Day 3
On day 3 Toni Shaw was back in the pool and again finished within the Tokyo consideration time in the 400m freestyle in 4:45:50, putting herself well within the S9 standard for the Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
Meanwhile in the men’s 400m freestyle final, Oliver Carter finished with a time of 4:19:21, enough to break his own S10 Scottish Record.
Day 4
The final day of the event ended in fine fashion with a World Record breaking swim from S12 Athlete Stephen Clegg in the MC 100m butterfly final.
Having come just short of a British Record in the heats, he went above and beyond in the final registering a World Record time of 57:42. This World Record had stood since 2013.
Jack Milne S14 competed in the same final finishing 6th in 1:02.73.
Elsewhere Oliver Carter S10 was also in record-breaking form as he broke Paul Noble’s long-standing Scottish Record in the 100m butterfly heat, a record that has stood for 25 years since 1996. Oliver finished with a time of 1:05:43