Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, William Ellard has won three medals - two gold and one silver - at the Paralympic Games
- Published45 minutes ago
Paralympic champion William Ellard set a new world record time to take gold in the S14 mixed class 100m freestyle final at the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships in London.
Ellard finished in 50.41 seconds to shave 0.49 seconds off the previous record held by Brazil's Arthur Xavier Ribeiro.
The 20-year-old, who won gold in the S14 200m freestyle and mixed 4x100m freestyle relay at the 2024 Paralympics, has subsequently booked his place at the European Championships in Paris this summer.
"It was the aim," Ellard said when asked if he was targeting the world record.
"It would be nice to go 49 [seconds] one day but it hurt for the last 15 metres, I just had to put my head down."
Earlier, Angharad Evans broke the British 200m breaststroke record, finishing in a time of 2:19.70.
The 22-year-old was 1.19 seconds quicker than former record holder Molly Renshaw, who set the time in 2021.
"Tonight was about racing the race, it was a strong field and I knew it was going to be a tough race," Evans said.
"I felt good in there and just had to trust myself. I'm super happy and that was really unexpected."
Among the other winners were double Olympic champion Matt Richards in the 100m freestyle, Lauren Cox in the 50m backstroke and Georgia Sheffield in the Para 200m freestyle.
British titles will be awarded in 36 medal events across the meet in London this week.
