The Briton lowered her qualifying time by over one second to finish in 5min 26.52sec claiming her third qualification for the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) European Championships in Eindhoven in August.

The S6 world record holder followed up her bronze in the 200m individual medley on Saturday (April 19) by finishing on 934 points, ahead of Spaniard Deborah Font and team-mate Hannah Russell, who took her second bronze medal of the competition.

"The 400m free is one of my favourite races so it's great to have won the gold and finish within the qualifying standard for the IPC European Championships," said 19-year-old Simmonds, now based in Loughborough after relocating from Swansea last year. 

"I'm really happy with how the meet has gone.

"The final was a bit more difficult because I didn't have Susie [Rodgers] swimming next to me like I did in the heats, but being on the opposite side of the pool was OK because I just swam my own race.

"I'm really enjoying training with the Loughborough guys.

"Swimming close to my personal bests this week has shown how good the move has been and being in a new environment and closer to home is great."

In the men's 400m freestyle, another Paralympic and world champion took the title as Britain's Ollie Hynd finished just one second outside his brother Sam's world record time, touching home first in 4:27.64 ahead of compatriots Jonathan Fox and Josef Craig.

"I'm really pleased with that final," said Hynd.

"I wanted to come back and push myself a little bit to see what I've got in me.

"To swim a 4:27 is really good for where I am right now."

Bethany Firth finished her campaign in Glasgow with four gold medals ©Getty Images



Andrew Mullen set an S5 British record and secured his place in Eindhoven in the MC 50m backstroke with a time of 39.03sec, finishing clear of Malaysian Zul Abdullah and Spain's Ricardo Ten.

Singapore's Pin Xiu Yip took the women's 50m backstroke gold, finishing clear of Lisette Teunissen of the Netherlands and Briton Suzanne Warren.

Iceland's Jon Margeir Sverrisson was another visiting swimmer to come away from the Tollcross International Swimming Centre with a gold medal, after he touched home ahead of Britain's Craig Rodgie and Thomas Hamer in the 200m freestyle.

Despite Rodgie's and Hamer's performance, their times were just outside the European qualification standard for Eindhoven.

Bethany Firth from Northern Ireland ended her campaign in Glasgow with a fourth gold medal and the accolade of athlete of the week as she took the win in the S14 200m freestyle.

Having already claimed wins in the 100m backstroke, 100m breaststroke and 200m individual medley, Firth secured her fourth top spot with a world best time of 2:06.93.

Team-mate Jessica-Jane Applegate came second with a time of 2:11.90 to secure her place for the European Championships, while bronze went to Russian Valeriia Shabalina.

Next up for many of the British swimmers will be the Para-swimming events at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, which are due to get underway on July 23, while the IPC European Championships are scheduled to take place from from August 4 to 10.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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