Patterson Smashes World Record

Australian swimmer Grant Patterson has smashed the world record in the men’s S3 100m backstroke in his first race at the 2011 Australian Swimming Championships at Sydney Olympic Park.

Patterson, affectionately known as “Scooter” due to the scooter he uses to move around the pool deck, obliterated the previous world mark of 1:57.19, touching the wall in 1:56.42, which will be a new world record once ratified by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Swimming.

The 21-year-old was in disbelief at his world record time, considering his disappointing heat time of 2:03.00.

“That’s amazing,” said Patterson.

“I thought I was going to struggle to do under two minutes but I’ve blown it, 1:56.42! I’m over the moon.”

In a multi class race, reigning national champion and Paralympic champion Matthew Cowdrey (S9) finished second in 1:05.95, while Andrew Pasterfield posted a PB to claim third in 1:02.01.

Cowdrey, who holds the world record for the event, was nearly two seconds off his best.

“We’ve had a pretty big focus on the freestyle over the last six months, even longer than that with the Commonwealth Games so I guess things were bound to suffer a little bit. It’s the first race of the meet so hopefully we can build into it and make sure the 50m (freestyle) is fast tomorrow night,” said Cowdrey.

In the women’s race, 19-year-old Kayla Clarke (S14) scooped the top prize in the women’s 100m backstroke multi class event, touching the wall in 1:11.02.

The Brisbane teenager can now add National Champion to her list of accolades after winning silver in the same event at the 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships in the Netherlands.

The Beijing Paralympic bronze medallist Ellie Cole (S8), bettered her Beijing time to finish second in 1:10.99, while the Beijing gold medallist Katrina Porter (S7) finished third in 1:25.48.

After a fifth place finish at the IPC World Championships and a fourth place at the Commonwealth Games, Cole is confident she is on her way to securing a medal in London.

“I didn’t swim very well at Eindhoven or the Commonwealth Games but I went back to the AIS in January and put my head down and started training really, really hard. My coach Graeme Carroll has been pushing me really hard to make me swim my best and it’s paying off obviously with the results from today,” said Cole.

Over the next seven days, Australia’s Paralympic swimmers will compete for team selection to the 2011 Para Pan Pacific Championships in Canada in August.

In tomorrow’s multi-class events, Matt Cowdrey will look to reclaim the national title in the men’s 50m freestyle, after losing the crown to AIS training partner Peter Leek at last year’s Nationals. Cowdrey broke his own world record in the S9 event at Delhi Commonwealth Games and is currently the Paralympic, world and Commonwealth Games champion across the 50m distance.

In the women’s race, Commonwealth Games medallists Ellie Cole and Annabelle Williams are likely to face off in the final of the women’s 50m freestyle in a Commonwealth Games re-race. Cole will be hard to beat, having kicked off her Nationals campaign with tonight’s 100m backstroke silver medal.