Golden double for Shropshire world-beater Chris Walker-Hebborn
Ellesmere Titans ace Chris Walker-Hebborn clinched a double gold-medal swoop, and a relay world record, on a night to savour at the European Swimming Championships in Berlin.
The 24-year-old staged a late surge to win 100 metre backstroke gold for Great Britain last night.
And the success did not stop there, as he took part in the mixed 4x100m medley in the final race of the evening. Walker-Hebborn, Adam Peaty, Jemma Lowe and Fran Halsall came home in 3:44.02 to break the previous world record set by Australia in January by 2.5 seconds.
Holland were 1.91secs behind in claiming silver with Russia taking bronze.
In the backstroke, Walker-Hebborn, overhauled 2011 world champion Jeremy Stravius and Germany's Jan-Philip Glania in the final metres to claim victory in a time of 53.32 seconds.
His win capped a glorious month for the University of Bath-based athlete who had also won 100m backstroke gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow – one of two golds he won at the games along with a triumph in the 4x400m medley.
Teenager Peaty also grabbed gold as he pipped team-mate Ross Murdoch to win the 100m breaststroke title.
Peaty – who like Walker-Hebborn had also won gold in the same event in Glasgow – touched home in 58.96 seconds, with Murdoch settling for silver 0.47 seconds behind.
There was a silver medal for Lizzie Simmonds in the women's 200m backstroke and bronze for Halsall in the 50m butterfly.
Ben Proud also picked up a bronze medal in the men's 50m butterfly after dramatically dead-heating for third place with Andriy Govorov of Ukraine, with both swimmers recording an identical time of 23.31 seconds.
