Freney (pictured top) led the Australian 4x100 metres freestyle relay team (pictured below, Freney on right) to gold in a world record time of 4min 20.39sec, finishing ahead of the United States and the hosts Britain, who set a European record.

The winning Australian quartet also consisted of Ellie Cole, Maddison Elliott and Katherine Downie.

Earlier tonight in the women's 100m freestyle S7, Freney had claimed the fourth gold of her Games, breaking the Paralympic record in the event for the second time today in a time of 1:09.39.

At the halfway point of the Paralympics she is easily the most successful athlete in London.

She had previously claimed gold medals in the 100m backstroke, the 200m individual medley and 50m butterfly, breaking Paralympic, world and Oceania records respectively in the three races.

Freney burst onto the scene at Beijing four years ago, winning three bronze medals and also claimed two silvers at the World Championships in 2010.


Swimming runs in the family for Freney, whose grandfather Peter coached Siobhan Paton at the Paralympics in Sydney 12 years ago to six gold medals – and the 20-year-old is coached by her father, Michael.

Despite her astonishing form, Freney insists that she is not getting ahead of herself about what more she can achieve at these Games, saying that she would take "one race at a time" afterwards.

She added that she ignored her rivals in the pool, saying "I pace myself against the clock, I do not need anyone around me to do a good time."

American Cortney Jordan and Britain's Susannah Rodgers claimed silver and bronze respectively in the 100m freestyle behind the Australian sensation.

Freney's achievements also capped a remarkable 24 hours for Australia in the pool after Matthew Cowdrey (pictured below) became their most successful swimmer ever with his 10th gold medal in the men's 4x100m freestyle last night.

You would not have known that the most startling swimmer in the Aquatics Centre tonight was the Australian given the cheers reserved for Britain's Ellie Simmonds as she won her second gold medal of the Games.


Having already broken the world record in qualifying, she produced a blistering sprint finish to claim the 200m individual medley SM6 title.

Trailing by five metres in second place, behind Ukraine's Oksana Khrul, Simmonds responded to the roar of the crowd to produce a breathtaking final 50 metres in less than 40 seconds, to smash the world record in a time of 3:05.39sec and finish a full 20 metres in front of her nearest rival.

British Prime Minister David Cameron was present at the Aquatics Centre to witness her display and hand Simmonds her medal, although his presence was not met with universal approval, with plenty of jeers ringing around the venue.

If that was not bad enough for the Prime Minister the next major dignitary to take part in a medal ceremony was Boris Johnson, the London Mayor who is believed to be after Cameron's job, who was given a rousing welcome by the crowd.

Still just 17 and with four Paralympic titles to her name already, Simmonds (pictured below) has two more gold medal opportunities, in the 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle tomorrow and on Saturday respectively.

She had already won the 400m freestyle with a brilliant performance to defeat controversial rival Victoria Arlen of the United States, who was originally reclassified at the start of the Games.

Simmonds will renew her rivalry with Arlen in her remaining two races.


"In front of my home crowd and one of my major events, as well, I'm just really chuffed," Simmonds said afterwards.

"I cannot believe every race I've done a personal best.

"It's great to be on form in the biggest race of my life.

"I knew I was on form from this morning.

"I knew it was going to be tough, but mainly I was racing against myself."

Germany's Verena Schott also produced an exceptional final sprint to go from fifth to second and claim silver behind Simmonds, with another Briton, Natalie Jones, taking bronze.

Freney and Simmonds aside, it was another remarkable night at the Aquatics Centre, with a record of some sort broken in every event bar one, and 10 world records in total.

In the night's first race, Britain's Sascha Kindred was defeated in the 200m individual medley SM6, losing out to China's Qing Xu, who first competed at the Paralympics as an 11-year-old in Athens in 2004.

Xu set a world record with his time of 2:38.62, and his compatriot Tao Zheng took bronze.

There were two more Chinese picking up their second golds of these Games tonight.

Shiyun Pan won the men's 100m freestyle S7 gold to add to the 50m butterfly title he had already won during the Games.


He beat Matthew Levy as the Australian added to his one gold and two bronze medals already won in London.

Following Pan, compatriot Yang Yang also claimed a second gold of the Games after victory in the men's 100m freestyle S2.

His time of 2:03.71 not only set a new world record but was also the 100th Paralympic record smashed during London 2012.

Bozun Yang then won his second gold medal, to add to the two silvers he also has, in the men's 100m breaststroke SB11 – in yet another world record time of 1:10.11.

The Chinese success continued as Jiangbo Xia broke another world record in the women's 100m freestyle S3.

Another swimmer enjoying a superb Games is Belarusian Ihar Boki (pictured above), as the 18-year-old swept to his third Paralympic gold medal this week in the men's 100m backstroke S13, breaking a world record by clocking 56.97sec.

Russia also had plenty to celebrate, as Oxana Savchenko claimed her second gold of the Paralympics with the day's final world record, as she won the women's 200m individual medley SM12 in 2:28.00.

Savchenko's fellow Russian Denis Tarasov broke the world record in the men's 50m freestyle S8 twice, first in heats and then in the final in a time of 26.45.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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