Welbourn breaks two short course records

Rob Welbourn is looking forward to testing himself against the best disabled swimmers in the world in a 25m pool for the first time.

The Lincoln Vulcan swimmer qualified for the inaugural Disability Short Course World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, with a stunning performance at the British Gas Swim Wales Disability Short Course Swimming Championships in Newport last weekend.

The Paralympic gold medalist set two British and European records in the 25m pool at the event which doubled as the Great Britain World Championship Trials.

On the Saturday he smashed his own British and European S10 disability 400m freestyle record by more than eight seconds.

And his time of 4.02.80 was less than half a second outside the world short course record set by Canada's Phillipe Gagnon in 2001.

Then the following day, in the 100m freestyle he set a new record of 53.35, beating the British record which belonged to his Paralympic relay team-mate Graham Edmunds (55.98) and the European recorded set by Spain's David Levecq (55.25).

As short course swimming races are generally quicker than long course races, the times are the fastest Welbourn has ever done over those distances.

"You get faster times in short course races, as there are more turns," said Welbourn, who is based at British Swimming's high performance centre in Swansea.

"You would think that would slow you down, but it makes for better times as you get to push off the side of the pool which makes you go slightly quicker."

"There's never been a short course world championships in disability swimming before.

"Although I'll have raced before against most of the swimmers in 50m pool events, it will be good to compete against them for the first time in the short course.

"In the 400m I knew there wasn't really anyone who would be able to touch me, so I was very confident of qualifying and I expected to do a quick time.

"Although I was confident of qualifying, in the 100m it is not as strong a distance for me, so I was very surprised when I set the record.

"It's great setting records as it gives you a massive confident boost.

"You know you are capable of recording those times."

Before the Short Course World Championships, Welbourn, who won Paralympic gold in freestyle relay and silver in the 400m in both Beijing last year and Athens in 2004, will return to the 50m pool when he competes in the Disability European Championships in Reykjavik in Iceland in October.