REBECCA REDFERN’s final preparations for her debut Paralympic Games in Rio are well underway before she flies out to Brazil with Team GB next month.
The 16-year-old swimmer, who studies at Droitwich High School and a member at Worcester Swimming Club, will travel to London on Saturday to meet up with the rest of the 31-strong Team GB swimming squad for a training camp before flying out to South America on Thursday, September 1.
Rebecca goes into the games in a rich vain of form after she regained her 100m breaststroke record from German rival Elena Krawzow at the British Summer Championships in Sheffield earlier this month, becoming the first swimmer in the SB13 visually impaired class to produce a sub-1:16 time as she clocked one minute and 15.96 seconds to win gold.
She had held the record before with her previous personal best being 1:16.86 which she achieved at April’s British para-Swimming Championships, a result which qualified her for her debut Paralympics.
Rebecca then topped off her world record swim by swimming her first ever sub-30s 50m freestyle time to claim silver at the ASA National Championships, clocking 29.96s.
Speaking ahead of her debut Paralympics, Rebecca said there’s no pressure on her shoulders and that she will use the Rio experience to take into future Games.
“There’s lots of training to do before we fly out but I’m very excited to be participating,” she said.
“I have no idea how it will feel if I manage to walk away with a medal – it will be unreal.
“I did not expect to go into the Games as World Record holder because my training has been quite hard.
“I’m still very young so I don’t have to deal with any pressure and no matter what happens, I will take the experience towards future Paralympic Games.”
