By Tom Degun

Jenny McLoughlin_June_27June 26 - Commonwealth Games silver medallist Jenny McLoughlin added another silver to her collection when she finished second in the T37 200 metres in a personal best time of 30.10sec at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) European Athletics Championships in Stadskanaal, Netherlands.


In one of the closest races of the Championships so far, McLoughlin (pictured above, left) was narrowly held off the top spot by Germany's Maria Seifert, who won the race in a European record of 29.94sec.

Another Briton, Katrina Hart, took third in a time of 30.20 on a day where Britain claimed four medals, consisting of McLoughlin's silver and three bronzes.

"I was frustrated to be drawn in lane six because I know I'm in good shape and I qualified second fastest, but you take what you get," said McLoughlin, the double IWAS World Junior Champion.

"I knew I just had to run my own race and I think I ran a good race, I had a strong start but the bend was tough because you're out there on your own.

"I suppose it's a bit bittersweet, I'm delighted with a silver medal but you go out there to win.

"Overall though it's positive, we have three good girls in our group in this event/class and we're all in the relay squad which makes for a great team as well as pushing us all on to improve."

Britain's two other bronzes were claimed by T36 800m runner Paul Blake – in a race won by Russia's Evgenii Shvetcov in a world record of 2min 05.05sec – and T46 100m starlet Sally Brown, who following an injury hit season, took third with Nikol Rodokamina of Russia securing gold.

Marlou van_Rhijn_June_27
"It's nice to be back in the competition environment and to be back with the girls on the team," said Brown, who was celebrating her 17th birthday.

"It's funny how you forget things and it's been about getting familiar with the processes again.

"I was frustrated yesterday [after the 200m] because I wasn't running the times I was running last year, but I've got to start somewhere and I came here to race, so I'm definitely glad I've done that."

Elsewhere, home fans had something to cheer about as Marlou van Rhijn (pictured above, centre)  led a Dutch clean sweep of the medals in the women's 100m T43/44 race.

Van Rhijn won the race with her season's best time of 13.62, as her teammates Suzan Verduijn and Iris Pruysen took silver and bronze, respectively.

The trio, all coached by Guido Bonsen, vaulted the Netherlands toward the top of the Championship standings with six gold and 16 overall medals to leave them third overall.

Russia are on top of the standings with 17 gold and 42 overall medals while Ukraine are second with 10 golds and 29 total medals.

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