Gold medals for Alice Tai and Hannah Russell at Dublin 2018 - Day 4

Alice Tai. Photo: British Swimming

Alice Tai and Hannah Russell won gold for Great Britain on day four of the 2018 World Para Swimming Allianz European Championships.

Tai went within 0.6 seconds of her own world record as she won the S8 100m backstroke final, with Megan Richter claiming silver to complete a British one-two.

Earlier in the session, Russell won her second gold medal of Dublin 2018 in the S12 100m backstroke as she clocked a season's best time of 1:08.16.

Russell said: "I've tried to work on the small things I've been doing in training and it's obviously paid off.

"I'm not quite at my best, my PB is 1:06.06 and this season has had its ups and downs but I've come into this European Championships wanting to do my absolute best.

"We missed the World Championships last year which meant we didn't have that stepping stone but we have had lots of domestic meets throughout the year.

"I try not to think about the others around me. It's me against the clock, I want to get a PB and my hands on the World record again."

Meanwhile, Tai admitted after her race that she had mixed feelings about her winning time of 1:08.86.

"I'm a bit torn after that result," she said. "Obviously I'm really happy about the medal but I went out too fast, I keep doing that on backstroke. I'm going to have to work on that for next year. If I want to get close to my PB then I need to improve my pacing.

"I've said before, I just love racing so to not have anyone next to me on the final 50m is a bit odd, so I just need to get in the right headspace to be able to race myself."

Richter's silver was her third medal of the championships, achieved in a season's best time of 1:17.90.

"I wasn't expecting the medal yesterday in the 100m breast, but I was delighted with it and with the 100m back which is my main event, so I'm very pleased that I did well in it," said Richter.

"Swimming alongside Alice was fun, and definitely useful to have someone to learn from and also great to be next to her on the podium."

Zara Mullooly picked up another British silver on day four, putting in an incredible performance to smash her PB by 0.7m in the S10 50m freestyle.

"I went into the race ranked sixth so I really wasn't expecting to get a medal or the time that I got so I'm really really happy with that, and still quite shocked," said Mullooly, who finished second to Dutch swimmer Chantelle Zijderveld in a time of 28.30.

Elsewhere on day four, there were bronze medals for Toni Shaw in the S9 100m backstroke, Stephen Clegg in the S12 100m backstroke, and Grace Harvey in the S6 100m backstroke.

2018 World Para Swimming Allianz European Championships Results - Day 4

Men's 100m Backstroke S6
GOLD: Dino Sinovcic (Croatia) 1:16.08
SILVER: Fabian Brune (Germany) 1:21.80
BRONZE: Oleksandr Komarov (Ukraine) 1:22.21

Women's 100m Backstroke S6
GOLD: Verena Schott (Germany) 1:25.06 - ER
SILVER: Yelyzaveta Mereshko (Ukraine) 1:25.30
BRONZE: Grave Harvey (Britain) 1:30.17

Men's 100m Backstroke S12
GOLD: Iaroslav Denysenko (Ukraine) 59.97
SILVER: Sergii Klippert (Ukraine) 1:00.25
BRONZE: Stephen Clegg (Britain) 1:01.52

Women's 100m Backstroke S12
GOLD: Hannah Russell (Britain) 1:08.16
SILVER: Maria Delgado Nadal (Spain) 1:13.04
BRONZE: Alessia Berra (Italy) 1:15.83

Men's 150m IM SM3
GOLD: Ioannis Kostakis (Greece) 3:36.61
SILVER: Mikael Fredriksson (Sweden) 3:47.01
BRONZE: Iyad Shalabi (Israel) 5:03.28

Men's 150m IM SM4
GOLD: Ami Omer Dadaon (Israel) 2:39.95
SILVER: Efrem Morelli (Italy) 2:46.13
BRONZE: Dmytro Vynohradets (Ukraine) 2:48.54

Women's 150m IM SM4
GOLD: Maryna Verbova (Ukraine) 3:08.12
SILVER: Olga Sviderska (Ukraine) 3:11.80
BRONZE: Gina Boettcher (Germany) 3:29.97

Men's 100m Backstroke S11
GOLD: Viktor Smyrnov (Ukraine) 1:09.96
SILVER: Wojciech Makowski (Poland) 1:11.00
BRONZE: Marco Meneses (Portugal) 1:14.08

Women's 100m Backstroke S11
GOLD: Kateryna Tkachuk (Ukraine) 1:20.93
SILVER: Cecilia Camellini (Italy) 1:21.35
BRONZE: Maryna Piddubna (Ukraine) 1:21.53

Men's 100m Backstroke S9
GOLD: Ugo Didier (France) 1:03.10 - ER
SILVER: Thijs van den End (Netherlands) 1:05.08
BRONZE: Tamas Toth (Hungary) 1:05.65

Women's 100m Backstroke S9
GOLD: Nuria Marques Soto (Spain) 1:09.79
SILVER: Lina Watz (Sweden) 1:14.27
BRONZE: Toni Shaw (Britain) 1:15.38

Men's 50m Freestyle S10
GOLD: Maksym Krypak (Ukraine) 23.54
SILVER: Denys Dubrov (Ukraine) 23.84
BRONZE: Stefano Raimondi (Italy) 24.45

Women's 50m Freestyle S10
GOLD: Chantalle Zijderveld (Netherlands) 28.05
SILVER: Zara Mullooly (Britain) 28.30
BRONZE: Alessia Scortechini (Italy) 28.48

Men's 200m Freestyle S2
GOLD: Aristeldis Makrodimitris (Greece) 4:53.06
SILVER: Roman Bondarenko (Ukraine) 5:02.24
BRONZE: Jacek Czech (Poland) 5:08.39

Men's 100m Backstroke S7
GOLD: Ievgenii Bogodaiko (Ukraine) 1:12.52
SILVER: Federico Bicelli (Italy) 1:12.63
BRONZE: Mark Malyar (Israel) 1:13.98

Women's 100m Backstroke S7
GOLD: Nora Meister (Switzerland) 1:23.50
SILVER: Anna Hontar (Ukraine) 1:28.97
BRONZE: Nicola St Clair Maitland (Sweden) 1:29.89

Men's 400m Freestyle S13
GOLD: Ihar Boki (Belarus) 4:01.12
SILVER: Kyrylo Garashchenko (Ukraine) 4:03.01
BRONZE: Alex Portal (France) 4:13.04

Men's 100m Backstroke S8
GOLD: Jurijs Semjonovs (Latvia) 1:09.45
SILVER: Inigo Llopis Sanz (Spain) 1:12.85
BRONZE: SS Martos Miguet (Spain) 1:13.17

Women's 100m Backstroke S8
GOLD: Alice Tai (Britain) 1:08.86
SILVER: Megan Richter (Britain) 1:17.90
BRONZE: Kateryna Denysenko (Ukraine) 1:19.30