Matt Whorwood,meanwhile, got Britain off to silver in the first race and the night just got better for the team as they took a total of ten medals.

With local favourite, Holland's Mirjam de Koning-Peper, pulling out of the race all eyes were on 15-year-old Simmonds to see if she could take any time off her own world record.

The 400m Paralympic champion did not disappoint as she took charge of the race early on and at the half-way point she turned with almost a ten second lead over the field.

Simmonds began to race the clock and she pushed further ahead and as the race entered the final 50m she held a lead of almost 20 seconds.

The Swansea-based swimmers was crowned world champion after knocking four seconds off her world record with a time of 5min 27.64sec.
 
“I am so shocked with that,” Simmonds said.

"The world record was always the aim for me but I didn’t expect to take that much of a chunk off it.

"I didn’t get a PB (personal best) at the British Champs so I was hoping for it here.

"The plan for the race was to just go out as hard as I could. In the race I felt that I was racing it on my own and when I turned around to see that I had won it with a PB I was so happy."

The silver medal went to Lingling Song from China in a time of 5:51.43 and fellow Briton Natalie Jones won the bronze after touching in 5:55.94.
 
Whorwood, a 20-year-old from Newquay, had got the team onto the medal table with the first swim of the evening.

He took on Sweden's Anders Olsson in the S6 400m Freestyle and the Briton pushed the world record holder on every stroke of the race.

Whorwood took the silver in a personal best time of 5:10.09 as Olsson won gold in 5:04.28 and bronze went to Ukraine's Yevheniy Bohodayko in 5:13.23.

"I have been putting lots of training into my Freestyle and I felt strong in that race,” Whorwood said.

"It was a six second PB and a silver medal which is really down to the preparation and training that I have had.

"I have been doing some really tough sets but it paid off here."

David Roberts (pictured) put in a strong performance but found himself in the silver medal position in the S7 400m freestyle despite swimming faster his own world record in the process.

Croatia's Milhovil Spanja fought off a late push from Roberts to win the gold medal in 4:47.39. 

The Swansea swimmer won silver in 4:48.11 and Cornwall's Jonathan Fox took bronze in 4:50.39.

Fran Williamson made an excellent start to her World Championship campaign with silver in the women’s S3 50m freestyle.

The Sunderland had an excellent final 25m and almost caught the leader but the wall came just too soon and she finished second in a time of 1:04.60.

“I feel quite good with that medal,” Williamson said. “It was quite unexpected but I really hoped I would have medalled in the race. I felt good in the water but I really didn’t realise how close to her I was when it finished."

The men’s S8 100m backstroke saw Thomas Young, a 19-year-old from Kirkby Lonsdale, swim to bronze with a strong performance as he touched in a time of 1:06.85.

Russia's Konstantin Lisenkov swam to the gold in a world record after finishing in 1:04.67.

Australia's Peter Leek won silver in 1:05.56 and British swimmer Sean Fraser finished fourth in 1:07.92.
 
Young added another bronze the SM8 200m individual medley as he put in a strong swim which saw him finish in a time of 2:32.40.

Experienced British swimmer Jim Anderson swam to bronze in the men’s S2 50m freestyle.

He looked good throughout the race and touched in a time of 1:07.34.

Stephanie Millward won her first medal of the World Championships with bronze in the women’s S9 100m butterfly, touching the wall in 1:11.07.

At the end of the action on the first night performance director John Atkinson said: "Coming away with ten medals gives the team a solid start to the six-day meet which I know the athletes can build on.

"There was an outstanding effort from Eleanor Simmonds to break the world record.

"She swam much of the race against the clock and to come out with that result is testament to the work that she is undertaking at the High Performance Centre in Swansea with her coach Billy Pye.

"The number of medals from the 400m is promising and it shows the strength and depth that we have in that event and which we can build on as we look toward London 2012.

"Tom Young did well to back up his medal in the 100m backstroke with a medal in the 200 IM.

"It was also pleasing to see all athletes lowering their times from heats to finals."


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