Simmonds dismantled the field with a strong freestyle leg to come within twelve one hundredths of a second of her world record as she finished in 3min 09.36sec.

The 16-year-old from Walsall was followed British compatriot Natalie Jones, second in 3:12.19, while another Briton, Liz Johnson, finished fifth in a time of 3:24.48.

"It was a great race for me today," said Simmonds.

"To come this close to the world record this early in season is amazing for me and it is really good for my confidence as I head into the European Championships in July which are the biggest event for us this year.

"I always love competing at this event as the fans here a great and I think it gives a real flavour of what it will be like at London 2012."

The result was one of a number of superb British performances which saw the home nation add maximum points to the team trophy tally with the hosts having entered the day in third position after the wheelchair basketball and ethletics events over the past five days.


They overtook the defending champions, the Rest of the World team, to take the title for the first time, with the Americas in third and Europe fourth.

It was fitting that British wins commenced and finished the swimming competition which was being broadcast live on Channel 4.

Stephanie Millward claimed the S9100m backstroke gold medal in the opening race of the day, in a time of 1:11.13 while Matthew Walker had a fantastic sprint in the S7 50m to close the session, winning in 28.62sec.

Louise Watkin narrowly missed the podium in Millward's race but led a British one-two-three in the S9 50m freestyle.

Manchester-based Watkin won in 30.04, with Millward second in 30.20 and fellow Briton Claire Cashmore taking the bronze with 30.38.

Watkin and Cashmore had a busy afternoon as they then took on a strong field in the SB9 100m breaststroke.

The race was won by New Zealand's Sophie Pascoe in a time of 1:10.83, with Cashmore claiming silver in 1:21.63 and Watkin in third in 1:25.11.

The win was particularly poignant for Pascoe, having witnessed the loss of the only 50m swimming pool in the whole of Christchurch in the recent devastating earthquake in New Zealand and she has had to prepare for this meet in a 25m pool.

Henshaw and Johnson took the top two spots of the podium in the SB6 100m breaststroke, with Henshaw winning in a time of 1:39.33, just pipping her friend and rival as Johnson who posted 1:39.61.

Britain's men were also in fine form, with Sam Hynd taking the S8 400m freestyle gold medal in 4:28.99, followed by Thomas Young in second in 4:36.78 and Sean Fraser completing the podium positions in 4:40.23.

Young added gold to his medal tally in the S8 100m backstroke, winning in 1:09.57 and Sean Fraser finishing second in 1:10.56.

Another British one-two was secured by Daniel Pepper and Ben Proctor in the S14 200m freestyle; another close finish as Pepper won in 2:04.10 and Proctor touched the wall in 2:04.49.

The SM6 200m individual medley saw the Rest of the World's Yevheniy Bohodayko, from the Ukraine, take the title in 2:42.13 and Britain's Matthew Whorwood finish in second in 3:02.69.

China's Nan Gao won the S7 100m backstroke in a race that was without Britain's Jonathan Fox having withdrawn from injury.

Gao won in a time of 1:14.34 and was followed by Britain's Heather Frederiksen completing the British medal tally in the S8 50m freestyle as she won silver in a time of 31:62.

China's Shengnan Jiang won the one length sprint just one hundredth of a second quicker.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
March 2011: Simmonds set to headline in Manchester at 2011 BT Paralympic World Cup
March 2011: Swimming gold for Simmonds in women's 100 metre freestyle final
March 2011: Simmonds books her place in Berlin with victory at British Championships
March 2011: Simmonds delighted after being turned into cartoon alongside London 2012 mascots
February 2011: Simmonds leads British team on two-week training camp to Doha