Birmingham 2022: Summers-Newton completes golden grand slam
European swimmers claim eight medals on day four at Birmingham 2022
By Nick Hope
LEN Digital Editor
England’s Maisie Summers-Newton completed her set of major titles by adding Commonwealth gold to her Paralympic, World and European successes.
The 20-year-old para swimmer, who grew up a short distance away from the host city, finished the SB6 100m breaststroke final in one minute 32.62 seconds.
England team-mate Sophie Harvey, an S5 swimmer, finished an impressive second.
“It’s really special,” said Summers-Newton after her victory.
“I put the pressure on myself, 100 per cent, but I’ve now achieved everything I wanted to achieve, so from now it’s just progressing on the little things, seeing how much better I can get and having fun.”
The men’s 100m freestyle final saw England’s Tom Dean and Duncan Scott of Scotland renew their rivalry, but it was Australian Kyle Chalmers who charged to gold.
Dean would gain some revenge on 200m gold medallist Scott by edging their battle in what was the first of two silver medals on the night, with his second coming in the 4x200m freestyle relay event, which was also won by Australia.
“I’m really happy with that,” stated Dean.
“You can never complain with a medal on the international stage and sharing a podium with two of the best athletes in this sport [Chalmers and Scott] at the moment is incredible.”
Scott’s 100m freestyle bronze was the 10th Commonwealth medal of his career, which took him level with Scottish record-holder and former shooter Alister Allan.
The swimmer would take that record outright with his 11th after Scotland finished third in the 4x200m relay.
18-year-old Katie Shanahan claimed her second bronze of the Games with third in the 200m backstroke while England’s Abbie Wood also claimed the final podium place in the 200m individual medley.