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SILVER BELLES: Paralympic medal success!

West Kent swimmers Iona Winnifrith and Callie-Ann Warrington surpassed all expectations in Paris last month, when they both swam home for a Paralympic Silver medal, making them our very own ‘Silver Belles’.

A historic silver for Iona Winnifrith was one of the highlights of day eight in the pool for ParalympicsGB at Paris 2024.

The 13-year-old Tonbridge Swimming Club star became the youngest British Paralympic medallist this century with her SB7 100m Breaststroke silver.

Iona Winnifrith wins silver after the swim of her life in the SB7 100m breaststroke. Credit: imagecomms.

Iona got off to an incredible start with an excellent performance where only a world record effort could stop her taking her title. The youngster qualified second fastest and got off the blocks well at La Defense Arena, and in just her second Paralympic final, Iona was already in second place at the 50m mark and then motored on towards the wall to finish comfortably ahead of the rest of the chasing pack. She clocked in with a time of 1:29.69 which broke her own British record from the European Championships earlier this year – taking 0.22 off her previous best.

Only Neutral Paralympic Athlete Mariia Pavlova could defeat the 13-year-old by breaking her own record to finish in 1:26.09 to take the title. And winning a Paralympic silver is something that Winnifrith thought was ‘really cool’.

Iona said: “It’s really cool, I was excited going into this race so I’m really happy.
I spoke with my coach [and the plan was] just try and keep up with the girls all the way through and then power it through the last length. I knew that I just needed to fight and just power off and do what I needed to do.

“Of course I really wanted that gold but you can’t have everything. I’m 13 so pretty young and I’m super, super happy with that performance.”

Tonbridge swimmer,13-year old Iona Winnifrith taking it all in at the Paralympic Games closing ceremony in Paris. Credit: imagecomms.

Just two days before, it was a one-two finish for Great Britain in the S10 100m Butterfly final where Callie-Ann Warrington, from RTW Monson Swimming Club, faced her fellow GB compatriot and favourite for the gold medal, Faye Rogers.

Callie-Ann was the GB swimmer in the lead at the halfway mark and gave it her all as she headed for the wall. But it was Rogers who was first to the touch after producing a strong finish – something many have come to expect from the back half of her races.

Just over half a second separated the British pair as Warrington finished in 1:06.41 to clinch the silver medal in a new personal best time.

Callie-Ann said after the race: “I had a chat with the coaches [after the heats] and we were happy with the pace that I went out on, and they just said you just need to come back a bit quicker and I delivered that. It was a PB and to be able to race against Faye – it’s just everything.”

She added: “We have been saying to each other the last couple of months, ‘come on, we can get the one-two’.

“It was lovely to have her next to me. We are very good friends until we get to the blocks, then we are competitors, and it’s nice to be able to separate that.”

Callie-Ann is also a European gold medallist, securing her title at the 2024 championships in Madeira ahead of her debut Paralympic Games appearance in Paris.

Want to get into para-swimming?
Do you want to know more about getting started in para-swimming? Or maybe you have your heart set on becoming a para-swimmer for Great Britain?

There are some key steps on the pathway to becoming a para-swimmer, and many of England’s top Paralympic swimmers will have taken those steps on their journey to the top of the sport.

For further information, please contact either Tonbridge Swimming Club or RTW Monson Swimming Club by visiting their respective websites at tonbridgeswimmingclub.co.uk and rtwmonson.org.

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