Fast racing witnessed at Winter Para Meet

[Images by Mickaël Malaper / Malaper Photography. Participants can purchase competition imagery from the online gallery]

The annual championships once again showed off the strength and depth of the national pathways, with this year’s event also serving as the final opportunity for eligible para-swimmers to post consideration times for the upcoming Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Setting the pace on the opening day of the meet, Grace Harvey bettered her own Women’s SB5 100m Breaststroke British record – dipping under the time she set at the 2022 world championships to stop the clock on 1:40.07 in her prelims, before taking the multi-classification win on 995 points in the afternoon finals session.

Harry Stewart [SB14] respectively took victory in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke, with Poppy Maskill [S14] and Will Ellard [S14] topping the Women’s and Men’s 100m Freestyle standings in Friday’s further finals.

With the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships not far around the corner, Mark Tompsett surpassed the Men’s S14 100m Backstroke European record he set in becoming British champion last year, posting a time of 58.13 to take the multi-class win in Swansea.

Saturday’s busy programme also saw Paralympic champion Stephen Clegg [S12] back racing after an injury-hit 2025 as he sprinted to the top step of the Men’s 50m Freestyle, while Callie-Ann Warington [S10] (Women’s 50m Freestyle), Rhys Darbey [SM14] (Men’s 200m Individual Medley), Brock Whiston [SM8] (Women’s 200m Individual Medley), Bruce Dee [S6] (Men’s 50m Butterfly), Iona Winnifrith [S7] (Women’s 50m Butterfly) and Poppy Maskill [S14] (Women’s 100m Backstroke) all triumphed across the penultimate finals session.

Having produced two new British records already in the meet (Women’s S11 50m Freestyle – 30.35 and Women’s S11 50m Butterfly – 33.98), Scarlett Humphrey paired her third with triumph in the Women’s 100m Butterfly as she took down Elaine Barrett’s 23-year-old mark in the British history books in a new European Women’s S11 best time of 1:16.42.

William Ellard [S14] doubled up to win both the Men’s 100m Butterfly and Men’s 200m Freestyle on Sunday, with Poppy Maskill [S14] also claiming a third victory of the meet in the Women’s 200m Freestyle, while Sam Downie [S8] and Faye Rogers [S10] secured top spot respectively in the Men’s and Women’s 400m Freestyle contests.

Extended results detail from the championships can be found online HERE.

Purchase tickets HERE to see Britain’s best para-swimmers and swimmer in action at the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships (14th-19th April 2026).