DSAuk Patrons Ellie Simmonds and Matt Whorwood are triumphant in the pool

All of the members of the DSAuk sat glued to their TV’s last night as Ellie Simmonds and Matt Whorwood both swam to Paralympic glory in the 400m freestyle finals.

First to swim was Matt Whorwood who had set the second fastest time in the qualifying heats and faced a tough race, Matt went out from the start holding on to the lead group right from the off he held on to third place and pulled away from the chasing pack. He made ground over the last 100m and finished in a time of 5.11.59 a brilliant time and enough to secure him the bronze medal. Val Simmonds reported to us that Matt was very pleased with his time and his bronze medal.

Next on the starting blocks was poster girl of the Paralympics Ellie Simmonds, four years on from Beijing Ellie was feeling the pressure as the eyes on the national were on her. After qualifying with new a paralympic record and with the added unknown of the American swimmer who held the world record, and had question marks over her class, Ellie had to dig deep to maintain her Paralympic title.

Ellie went out to match the American swimmer form the beep and matched her stroke for stroke throughout the first 300m, before switching up a gear and pushing herself to the absolute limit and pulling away in the last 100m to touch in a new World Record time of 5.19.17. Taking a massive 5 seconds off the old record.

Val Simmonds said “that goes down as the best race ever, she was absolutely exhausted at the end, what a good time for Matt he was very pleased with his performance”

Well done to both our patrons, all the members of the DSAUK are very proud of you both.