GREAT Britain's Paralympic swimmers followed in the wake of their Olympic counterparts in the Water Cube yesterday, with Heather Frederiksen winning the women's S8 100 metres backstroke and the men's 4x100m freestyle team claiming a third straight victory.
Jon Fox added silver and Louise Watkin and Scotland's Sean Fraser bronze, while equestrian rider Felicity Coulthard was second.
However, the gold remains elusive for the athletics team after wheelchair racer David Weir saw his world record go as
he was beaten to silver in the T54 men's 400 metres at the Bird's Nest Stadium.
The haul took Britain's gold medal tally to 21 and 43 medals in all, second only to China in the medal table – the hosts have 24 golds and 77 total medals – and more than halfway towards the target set by UK Sport. And the 11-day event is just four days old.
Frederiksen lowered the world record she set in the heats to 1:16.74 in winning her second medal after claiming a silver in the 100m freestyle.
The 22-year-old from Leigh, Lancashire, was a promising junior swimmer before an accident ended her career.
She thought she would never swim again, but was inspired by the performances of friends Rebecca Adlington – a double gold medallist in last month's Olympics – and Joanne Jackson, who won bronze, to get back in the water.
"When I learned to swim again, I thought Beijing would be a bonus for me and it would be London that I'd go for," said Frederiksen. "Now I have my gold, and it feels amazing.
"To do something like Becky Adlington – when she won that gold medal I said to my coach 'I want one' – it's a dream come true."
The men's relay quartet of Matt Walker, Graham Edmunds, David Roberts and Robert Welbourn then successfully defended the title they won in Athens, clocking a
world record 3:51.43 to finish ahead of Australia and China. It was Roberts' ninth Paralympic gold as he closed in on Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson's mark of 11.
"We knew going in as world champions we had a really, really good chance," said Roberts, 28, from Pontypridd. "I knew when I handed over to Sloth (Welbourn] after 300 metres that we'd win – celebrations had started."
Fox won 100m backstroke (S7) silver, while Fraser and Watkin won bronzes in their backstroke and breaststroke events respectively.
Fraser, from Loanhead in Midlothian, qualified third fastest for the final of the 100m backstroke (S8) and duly won bronze, five seconds behind Russia's Konstantin Lisenkov who set a new world record of 1:06.33. "It's my first Paralympics and I've got a medal, so I'm happy," he said. "I made tough goals for myself and this medal will keep me motivated for London."
