Kindred closes in on sixth Worlds bid

Great Britain's Sascha Kindred and the Netherlands' Marc Evers had top performances on the third day of the British International Disability Swimming Championships. 28 Apr 2013
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Sascha Kindred

Great Britain's Sascha Kindred

ⒸSimon Wilkinson
By British Swimming

“In the last couple of years with injuries and illness, my body has been telling me that swimming is hard work. My body is asking me how long I can continue but while I’m still doing PB times, there’s no reason to stop.”

Great Britain's Sascha Kindred closed in on his sixth IPC Swimming World Championships appearance with a leading performance on Day 3 of the British International Disability Swimming Championships in Sheffield on Saturday (27 April).

The 12-time Paralympic medallist comfortably secured the qualification time for Worlds in his main event, the 200m individual medley, clocking the fastest time in the world this season for his SM6 classification.

Kindred has won 14 medals across the past five World Championships, including 200m individual medley gold in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, three years ago.

And after clocking 2:45.11 to finish fifth against other classifications in the mutli-class event in Sheffield, Kindred insisted he will be chasing medals again when he takes on his SM6 rivals at the 2013 Worlds in Montreal, Canada.

“I’ve been going a while but I’m still improving,” said Kindred.

“I PB’d in London so I’m still showing the youngsters what to do and proving that us older guys can still get quicker and improve.

“You’re always learning in sport and I love what I do.

“In the last couple of years with injuries and illness, my body has been telling me that swimming is hard work. My body is asking me how long I can continue but while I’m still doing PB times, there’s no reason to stop.”

The Netherlands’ Marc Evers (SM14) eventually won the final, scoring 1,115 points with his time of 2:13.19, while British SM14 pair Ben Procter and Jack Thomas won silver and bronze in 2:20.47 (950) and 2:22.11 (918), respectively.

While 35-year old Kindred will prepare for his sixth World Championships, 14-year-old’s Chloe Davies and Amy Marren continued to impress as they secured qualification times for their first.

Having already clocked a qualification standard with a British record in her favourite 100m backstroke on the opening night, S14 swimmer Davies bagged her second time with British record 2:32.05 for silver in the 200m individual medley.

The Netherlands’ Marlou Van Der Kulk (SM14) won gold in 2:30.70 (1,055) while another Dutch swimmer, Magda Toeters (SM14) took bronze in 2:33.25 (1,003).

Marren has been one of the stars of the Championships, winning three medals over the opening two nights.

And she continued her form into the third day, lowering her own European SM9 200m individual medley record in both heats and finals, ultimately finishing fourth with 906 points.

Marren’s 2:33.34 from the heats would have landed her Paralympic gold last year while her 2:32.74 from the final is the fastest time in the SM9 classification since 13-time Paralympic champion Natalie Du Toit won the 2010 world title.

“It was a good race – I really enjoyed it,” said Marren.

“I just went in for another PB and came out with one so I’m overjoyed with it. I enjoy the IM the most because it’s such an exciting race to be in and there’s never one clear winner the whole time.

“I’ve been enjoying my swimming so much and I’m getting the right attitude for racing now.

“It’s nice to know it would have won a Paralympic gold medal – that’s what everyone goes for. But I can only look at my own time and how I can improve that. I don’t really want to compare myself to others like that because every race is different.”