Bethany Firth: Northern Ireland swimmer breaks her own S14 100m backstroke record

Six-time Paralympic champion Bethany Firth broke her own world record for the S14 100m backstroke at the Dutch national championships in Eindhoven.

The new record of one minute 04.02 seconds bettered the previous mark of 1:04.05 set almost 10 years ago when he won the gold medal in the Paralympic final in Rio.

It was the target meet for the GB Paralympic swimming team this year and the 30-year-old’s result secures his funding for next season when the world championships are held. This will take a year out of the LA Paralympics which is a long-term goal for GB Swimming.

The Dutch Championships were GB Swimming’s target meet as there was uncertainty over when or if the European Championships would take place this summer.

The IPC has allowed Russia to return to competition but due to government policy some countries are not allowed to compete against them within Europe.

GB Swimming is not limited to this approach but with the Europeans taking some time to decide whether to proceed to Turkey, they took a different route so their swimmers could prepare properly.

As a result Firth’s season will end at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow later this month where he will defend his S14 200m freestyle title.

The 100m backstroke is not part of the Commonwealth Games programme.