Firth Midas touch

Firth Midas touch

22 August 2018

SEAFORDE golden girl Bethany Firth has been making waves in the pool again.

The 22 year-old returned home from the European Para Swimming Championships in Dublin with a haul of five medals, including three golds.

Her first success came in the women’s S14 200m freestyle last Tuesday and 24 hours later she won gold again in the 100m backstroke S14 final.

In the backstroke race she finished in a time of one minute 4.23 seconds — just 0.18 seconds outside her own world record — to finish ahead of Team GB team-mate Jessica-Jane Applegate, who was second, and third-placed Eva Coronado Tejeda from Spain.

Saturday brought silver in the S14 100m butterfly final in which she lost out to Applegate, but Bethany didn’t have long to wait to complete her hat-trick of gold.

The climax of the competition came on Sunday and a delighted Bethany was unbeatable in the SM14 200m individual medley final, bringing her total medal haul to five for the week.

“This season has been up and down so I’m delighted to come here and do my best,” said Bethany, whose training has been interrupted with a shoulder problem.

“My backstroke has been going well and I was confident coming in, but I would like to have got the world record.”

It’s the latest in a series of triumphs for the Seaforde swimmer, who won three golds in the 2016 Paralympic Games to add to her single gold from 2012 Paralympics. She was subsequently awarded an MBE for services to swimming.