Paralympic Swimmer Jonathan Fox Sets New World Record
Paralympian Jonathan Fox broke his world 100m backstroke record in the heats at the British Championships on his way to winning the event.
Fox, who has cerebral palsy, set a new S7 category mark of one minute 10.70 seconds in Manchester, beating his old record of 1:11.94 set last year.
But he missed out on a second world record in the final, clocking 1:11.36.
“I’ve been working hard over the past three months so I wanted to see what I was like in a race,” he said.
“I’ve been working hard on the back end of my races in training and it has all paid off – I didn’t think I was going that fast.”
Fox, who won gold last year’s World Championships in Eindhoven in his previous best time, moved from Cornwall to work with coach Mick Massey at the Manchester High Performance Centre late last year.
His time in Manchester qualified the 19-year-old for the IPC European Championships which will be held in Berlin this summer.
“I’ve put a marker down with that time and it will give me confidence for the Europeans knowing my closest rival is now about two seconds behind me,” he added.
Fellow Beijing Paralympian Stephanie Millward took gold in the women’s 100m backstroke and Natalie Massey silver, both qualifying for the European Championships.
Same Difference 