Alice Tai wins second gold at Dublin 2018 - Day 5

Alice Tai. Photo: British Swimming

Alice Tai revealed she had to dig deep to claim her second gold medal of the 2018 World Para Swimming Allianz European Championships on Friday.

Having won gold in the S8 100m backstroke the previous day, Tai returned to the pool to win the S8 100m freestyle title in 1:05.53.

"That race was actually a little disappointing for me," said Tai afterwards. "My body just kind of shut down after 40m so it ended up being a really difficult swim and really hard for me to keep pushing.

"But it's still a gold medal and the European title so I can be happy with that."

Despite finding it tough, Tai still managed to better her qualifying heat time by three seconds and led home Italy's Francesca Palazzo by more than 1.5 seconds.

Fellow Brit Megan Richter also swam in the final, achieving a season's best time of 1:12.11 to finish fifth.

In the S6 400m freestyle, Ellie Simmonds claimed silver in 5:26.20 while Maisie Summers-Newton took bronze in 5:26.97. The gold went to Ukraine's Yelyzaveta Mereshko in 5:19.64.

Simmonds said: "I'm really happy with how this week has gone. To go 5:26, that was a season's best for me, it felt a lot harder than I wanted it to be but I'm happy to come away with two silver medals and two best times for the 2018 season.

"There’s lots that I need to work on but that's exciting, that's me finished now here in Dublin and I'm looking forward to getting up into the stands and cheering on the team for the last few days."

Grace Harvey was fourth in the final, with a time of 5:32.60.

Toni Shaw was delighted with her performance that earned her a silver medal in the SM9 200m individual medley. Her time of 2:36.80 was another PB.

"This week has been really good, really exciting and I'm so happy with my result," said Shaw. "Having an Irish swimmer in the final meant the cheering was really loud which was amazing, you could really hear it in the water.

"The experience has been great, the whole team are lovely. I didn't come here expecting to achieve so much, my aim was just to get PBs."

Tully Kearney had to contend with a late change of classification, but still managed to claim bronze and win Britain's first medal of day five in the S5 50m freestyle final.

Kearney said: "I started my week competing here in Dublin as a six (S6) and then this morning I was put back down to an S5. It's quite hard, it's stressful, it's tiring but classification is a massively important part of para-sport, so I understand the need for it.

"It's been a tough week but I'm just really happy that I've been able to get in tonight and race, this is my first major championships in three years."

Kearney's time was 39.77. Spain's Teresa Perales won gold in 38.55, while Italy's Monica Boggioni claimed silver in 39.49.

2018 World Para Swimming Allianz European Championships Results - Day 5

Men's 100m Backstroke S13
GOLD: Ihar Boki (Belarus) 57.00
SILVER: Kyrylo Garashchenko (Ukraine) 1:01.20
BRONZE: Antti Antero Latikka (Finland) 1:02.17

Women's 100m Backstroke S13
GOLD: Carlotta Gilli (Italy) 1:05.76 - WR
SILVER: Anna Stetsenko (Ukraine) 1:09.54
BRONZE: Marian Polo Lopez (Spain) 1:11.21

Men's 200m IM SM11
GOLD: Israel Oliver (Spain) 2:28.18
SILVER: Viktor Smyrnov (Ukraine) 2:32.07
BRONZE: Hryhory Zudzilau (Belarus) 2:32.43

Women's 200m IM SM11
GOLD: Liesette Bruinsma (Netherlands) 2:46.58 - WR
SILVER: Matyna Piddubna (Ukraine) 2:53.76
BRONZE: Yana Berezhna (Ukraine) 3:01.04

Men's 100m Butterfly S10
GOLD: Denys Dubrov (Ukraine) 54.78
SILVER: Maksym Krypak (Ukraine) 54.83
BRONZE: Stefano Raimondi (Italy) 55.86

Women's 100m Butterfly S10
GOLD: Lisa Kruger (Netherlands) 1:07.82
SILVER: Olivvia Jablonska (Poland) 1:07.86
BRONZE: Alessia Scortechini (Italy) 1:08.25

Men's 200m IM SM12
GOLD: Iaroslav Denysenko (Ukraine) 2:12.67
SILVER: Danylo Chufarov (Ukraine) 2:15.78
BRONZE: Rogier Dorsman (Netherlands) 2:20.40

Men's 200m IM SM12
GOLD: Iaroslav Denysenko (Ukraine) 2:12.67
SILVER: Danylo Chufarov (Ukraine) 2:15.78
BRONZE: Rogier Dorsman (Netherlands) 2:20.40

Women's 200m IM SM12
GOLD: Elena Krawzow (Germany) 2:31.61
SILVER: Alessia Berra (Italy) 2:36.74
BRONZE: Neele Labudda (Germany) 2:43.79

Men's 200m Freestyle S4
GOLD: Michael Schoenmaker (Netherlands) 3:07.12
SILVER: Ami Omer Dadaon (Israel) 3:10.76
BRONZE: Darko Duric (Slovenia) 3:13.86

Men's 50m Freestyle S5
GOLD: Antonio Fantin (Italy) 31.18
SILVER: Francesco Bocciardo (Italy) 32.95
BRONZE: Stephan Fuhrer (Switzerland) 32.97

Women's 50m Freestyle S5
GOLD: Teresa Perales (Spain) 38.55
SILVER: Monica Boggioni (Italy) 39.49
BRONZE: Tully Kearney (Britain) 39.77

Men's 50m Backstroke S3
GOLD: Vincenzo Boni (Italy) 48.78
SILVER: Denys Ostapchenko (Ukraine) 52.17
BRONZE: MA Martinez T (Spain) 52.49

Men's 100m Freestyle S8
GOLD: Michael Golus (Poland) 1:01.70
SILVER: Inigo Llopis Sanz (Spain) 1:02.76
BRONZE: SS Martos Minguet (Spain) 1:03.44

Women's 100m Freestyle S8
GOLD: Alice Tai (Britain) 1:05.53
SILVER: Xenia Palazzo (Italy) 1:07.12
BRONZE: Claire Supiot (France) 1:07.33

Men's 400m Freestyle S6
GOLD: Thijs van Hofweegen (Netherlands) 5:09.96
SILVER: Daniel Videira (Portugal) 5:24.12
BRONZE: Yoav Valinsky (Israel) 5:39.88

Women's 400m Freestyle S6
GOLD: Yelzaveta Mereshko (Ukraine) 5:19.64
SILVER: Ellie Simmonds (Britain) 5:26.20
BRONZE: Maisie Summers-Newton (Britain) 5:26.97

Men's 50m Freestyle S7
GOLD: Andrii Trusov (Ukraine) 28.38
SILVER: Ievgenii Bogodaiko (Ukraine) 28.48
BRONZE: Federico Bicelli (Italy) 29.18

Women's 50m Freestyle S7
GOLD: Denise Grahl (Germany) 32.83 - ER
SILVER: Sabine Weber-Treiber (Austria) 35.20
BRONZE: Anna Hontar (Ukraine) 35.23

Men's 200m IM SM9
GOLD: Federico Morlacchi (Italy) 2:17.55
SILVER: Ugo Didier (France) 2:21.19
BRONZE: Tamas Toth (Hungary) 2:22.16

Mixed 4x100m Freestyle Relay 49pts
GOLD: Ukraine 3:54.70 - WR
SILVER: Spain 4:03.58
BRONZE: Italy 4:03.86