Sophie strikes gold again

Brilliant Canterbury swimmer Sophie Pascoe bagged her second gold medal and third in three days at the Paralympics in London.

The 19-year old was all class setting a world record in her heat, and then returning to win the final and lower the mark further.

She clocked 1:04.97 to be fastest in heats in a new world record and dominated the final to win and lower the world mark to 1:04.43.

Sophie has two gold medals and a silver in three days with three more swims to come.

“Tonight was about racing the clock, and that’s what it is all the time when it comes down to racing, it’s about racing the time,” Sophie said. “You want to go out there and do a PB [personal best] that’s the goal, it’s not about the gold, it’s not about the silver or bronze, it’s about going out there and doing a PB and if it gets you on that podium, that’s what you want."

Sophie, coached by Roly Crichton at the QEII club, has a day’s rest before the 100m backstroke on Tuesday.

“I would like to do a PB in that and see what I can show the crowd, it’s all about what we do on the day.”

Wellington's Mary Fisher, from the Capital club, continued her brilliant form with her second medal, this time a bronze in the 50m freestyle. She won a silver in the 100m free yesterday.

The 19 year old clocked a personal best 31.67 in a slick race won by Italy’s Cecilia Camellini who became the first woman to go under the 31 second mark.

“We’ve been working on improving my stroke and times and it’s definitely paid off getting a PB and being right up there with world record holders and everyone that’s breaking world records," said Mary.

Auckland-based Northlander Cameron Leslie finished sixth in the final of the 200m freestyle in a significant personal best of 2:54.27, taking two seconds off his previous best. The result was a boost ahead of his key event, the 150m individual medley where he is the defending champion from Beijing.