Pepper Produces Thrird Gold Medal Swim of the Meet
9th March 2013
London 2012 Paralympian Daniel Pepper landed his third gold medal of the meet as he claimed the MC 200m Individual Medley title on day three of the British Gas International Meet in Leeds.
The Stockport Metro swimmer (SM14) clocked 2:22.18 to take gold on 917 points ahead of SM6 swimmer Sascha Kindred (City of Hereford) and Swansea University’s Jack Thomas who finished in 2:45.93 and 2:25.28 for 874 and 859 points respectively.
Pepper will look to qualify for his second IPC World Championships at next month’s British International Disability Championships in Sheffield.
“It was a really hard swim, but I’ve not swum that quickly in a long time so I’m really pleased with my time. I’m pleased with how I’ve swum in all my races so far really.
“If you put the gold medals to one side the swims behind them were actually really good for this point in the season. I’m going to take a lot of confidence from that and more forward to the World Championship qualifiers in Canada next month.”
Aquabears swimmer Natalie Massey (SM14) won the women’s event, clocking 2:38.84 to take gold with 901 points.
SM14 swimmer Chloe Davies (Trowbridge) improved on her personal best from the heats to capture silver in 2:39.73 (886 points) while Romford Town swimmer Amy Marren (SM9) also set a European Record of 2:35.20 for bronze.
Twelve-time Paralympic medallist and Manchester Aquatics swimmer Matt Walker (S7) swept to MC 50m Butterfly gold, setting 33.20 for a point score of 701.
Walker said: “Things have been a bit topsy turvy recently; I was ill at the beginning of February but I’m starting to get back to my best.
“Last year was a really tough year for me but I’m getting back on track. I’ve moved clubs and I’m now swimming at Manchester Aquatics with Mark Rose and train hard whilst having a good laugh. I just love racing really and it makes me feel more like a 20 year old rather than 30, so it’s great.”
Ren 96 swimmer Andrew Mullen (S5) set a time of 39.66 to claim silver in 638 points while South Tyneside’s Josef Craig (S7) swam below his personal best for the second time in the day to win bronze in 34.40 (630 points).
Otter swimmer Susie Rodgers (S7) won gold in the women’s MC 50m Fly with her time of 38.36 while UEA Norwich’s Helen Dolphin (SM4) and Durham City’s Lyndon Longhorne (SM4) took the 150m Individual Medley titles, the latter in a British record of 3:00.47.