Henshaw captures European title

EUROPEAN PARALYMPIC SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Venue: Reyjkavik, Iceland Dates: 18-24 October
Coverage: Highlights on the red button and BBC Sport website; live commentary on BBC 5 live sports extra

Charlotte Henshaw edged out team-mate and Paralympic champion Liz Johnson to win gold at the European Paralympic Swimming championships in Iceland.

The pair fought it out in the SB6 breaststroke final with the Mansfield swimmer winning by 0.86 seconds.

"It hasn't sunk in yet that I've won but I'm delighted - it has been a long time coming," she said.

Also winning gold were Louise Watkin, Anthony Stephens and Paralympic champion Sascha Kindred.

Henshaw finished fourth behind Johnson in Beijing last year but has improved her performances this year and has moved back to her Nottinghamshire home after studying at Stirling University, a switch which she says has paid dividends.

The pair were together at the 25m mark but Henshaw had a small advantage over the world record holder at the turn and dug in to extend her advantage through the final quarter of the race.

She finished in one minute 40.50 seconds, just short of the personal best of 1:40.31 she set in the morning heats.

"Moving back to Nottingham has really helped me because I am more relaxed and it helped me bring out that performance today," she admitted afterwards.

Watkin, who won a silver and three bronzes in Beijing, claimed her first European title with a powerful swim to take victory in the SM9 individual medley.

The 17-year-old trailed Spain's Sarai Gascon Moreno early on but came back into contention with a strong breaststroke leg and then took over the lead on the final freestyle leg before going on to win gold in 2:38.52.

There was a surprise gold for Stephens in the S5 50m butterfly after a strong second half of tge race saw him set a new personal best of 42.15 seconds.

"My main event is the 200m freestyle so to get the title in this event is really unexpected but great," he said.

"I've never been European Champion before and to hear the national anthem was brilliant. We changed my stroke technique last week and it seems to have paid off."

There was drama in the men's SB7 breaststroke final where 18-year-old Thomas Young finished ahead of three-time Paralympic champion and world record holder Sascha Kindred before the teenager was disqualified for a technical infringement, leaving Kindred the gold medallist.

Young, who was competing in his first major international competition, had got off to a good start and moved ahead of Kindred just before the turn and remained ahead before suffering disappointment.

Elsewhere, Eleni Papadopoulos won her second medal of the meeting with silver in the SM10 200m individual medley while Emma Hollis also claimed an impressive silver in the SB7 100m breaststroke, knocking two seconds off her British record.

There was also a British record for Rob Welbourn as he won bronze in the SM10 200m individual medley while there were also bronzes for Jim Anderson (S2 200m freestyle), Matt Whorwood (SB6 100m breaststroke) and Claire Cashmore (SB8 100m breaststroke).

RELATED INTERNET LINKS:
2009 IPC European Swimming Championships
British Swimming
Ouch!
ParalympicsGB
International Paralympic Committee
Parasport
English Federation of Disability Sport
Scottish Disability Sport
Federation of Disability Sport Wales
Disability Sport Events
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites