Records crumbled on the final night of the Australian Short Course Championships as newcomers Grant Patterson and Ahmed Kelly smashed their respective class world records in the multi-class 100m breaststroke.

Patterson, who lives and trains in Cairns, took home gold in the breaststroke after obliterating the world record for his disability class by more than 20 seconds. Adding to his 100m backstroke gold and 100m freestyle bronze, Patterson is confident in his ability to win at the upcoming IPC Swimming World Championships in August.

Right behind him was Melbourne swimmer Ahmed Kelly, who shattered the SB3 100m breaststroke world record by more than 10 seconds to nab the silver medal. Kelly only recently broke the seven-year-old record in the long course event and now holds both short and long course titles.

Queenslander Blake Cochrane came in third, adding bronze to his record breaking gold medal in the 50m breaststroke.

Three-time Beijing Paralympic gold medallist Peter Leek picked up his third gold for the meet in the 100m butterfly in 59.91 ahead of Aaron Rhind in second position and swimming heavyweight Matthew Cowdrey in third. Leek also claimed victory in the 50m freestyle in 26.09, beating defending champion Cowdrey who took home silver and Daniel Fox with bronze.

Twenty-one year old Leek heads into the World Championships in Eindhoven with three gold, one silver and one bronze from the short course meet.

In the women’s events, Queenslanders Kayla Clarke, Nerice Holland and Annabelle Williams made the medal podium their own in the multi-class 50m freestyle. Clarke claimed gold in a time of 29.55 with Holland following with silver and Williams with bronze.

Tanya Huebner, the 31-year-old from Victoria won gold in the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:42.37, with Kayla Clarke claiming silver and Prue Watt bronze.

Clarke’s medal haul of five gold, one silver and one bronze bodes well for Australia, as she joins Kelly, Patterson and Holland as one of Australia’s rising Paralympic swimming stars.

By APC Media