VISA Paralympic World Cup 2007

Saturday May 12th 2007, Manchester Aquatics Centre

Dragons DSC Coach David Roberts won Gold and Bronze in the Paralympic World Cup and there was also massive success for other former Dragons members Gareth Duke (1 Gold and 1 Bronze), Nyree Lewis (1 Gold and 1 Silver) and Liz Johnson (1 Bronze).

David kicked things off in the pool for the British team in the first race of the evening by taking Bronze in the Men’s 100m Freestyle Multi Disability Final clocking a time of 1:03.03. The race was won by Sweden’s S6, Anders Olsson in a time of 1:06.43 and the Silver went to Spain’s S5 Sebastian Rodriguez in 1:14.93.

Gareth Duke won Bronze in the Men’s SM6 200m Individual Medley in a time of 2:58.85. The race provided Britain with a 1-2-3 finish with Sascha Kindred taking Gold in 2:47.71 and Matthew Whorwood taking Silver in 2:58.20.

Nyree Lewis won Silver and Liz Johnson won a Bronze in the Women’s SM6 200m Individual Medley in times of 3:22.73 and 3:25.31. This race saw Britain achieve their second 1-2-3 of the evening with Natalie Jones winning the Gold in a time of 3:18.98.

Next came a Gold Medal for David Roberts in the Men’s S7 50m Freestyle. David was up against his fierce rival and team-mate Matthew Walker along with rising star of the category Lantz Lamback. Lamback split the pairing by taking silver in the IPC World Championships in December 2006 to David’s Gold and Matt’s Bronze. However, there was to be a new swimmer on the podium tonight. David took the Gold in a time of 29.18 with Lamback winning Silver in 29.87. The Bronze went to a British swimmer, although this wasn’t Matt Walker, he was Disqualified at the start; instead it went to Jonathan Fox in a time of 31.54. Walker would later make up for this disappointment by claiming the Gold in the Men’s Multi Disability 50m Freestyle.

Gareth Duke picked up a second medal of the night by winning the Gold in the Men’s SB6 100m Breaststroke in a time of 1:29.39, beating the Russian pairing Alexey Fomenkov and Artem Zaharov into Silver and Bronze.

Nyree Lewis then won her second medal by claiming Gold in the Women’s S6 100m Backstroke in 1:30.32 beating Mirjam De Koning of the Netherlands into Silver with Doramitzi Gonzalez of Mexico claiming the Bronze.

The medals won by Britain today were:

GOLD

Sascha Kindred – Men’s SM6 200m Individual Medley

Natalie Jones – Women’s SM6 200m Individual Medley

David Roberts – Men’s S7 50m Freestyle

Fran Williamson – Women’s S3 50m Backstroke

Gareth Duke – Men’s SB6 100m Breaststroke

Nyree Lewis – Women’s S6 100m Backstroke

Matthew Walker – Men’s MD 50m Freestyle

SILVER

Matthew Whorwood – Men’s SM6 200m Individual Medley

Nyree Lewis – Women’s SM6 200m Individual Medley Relay

James Crisp – Men’s S9 100m Backstroke

Anthony Stephens – Men’s S5 100m Freestyle

Claire Cashmore – Women’s S9 100m Freestyle

Rachael Latham – Women’s S8 100m Butterfly

BRONZE

David Roberts – Men’s MD 100m Freestyle

Gareth Duke – Men’s SM6 200m Individual Medley

Liz Johnson – Women’s SM6 200m Individual Medley

Jonathan Fox – Men’s S7 50m Freestyle

Louise Watkin – Women’s S9 100m Freestyle