IPC World Swimming: Ellie Simmonds lands medley gold

Briton Ellie Simmonds beat her own SM6 200m individual medley world record to win her second gold at the IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal.

Simmonds beat the three minutes 05.39 seconds she set in London last year with a new time of 3:04.41.

There was also gold for Sascha Kindred, 35, who won his fourth consecutive title in the men's SM6 200m medley.

Elsewhere, Jonathan Fox maintained his dominance in the S7 100m backstroke, retaining his world crown.

There was also gold for the women's 4x100m freestyle 34pt relay team to make it 12 golds and 37 medals for GB after four of the seven days of competition.

Simmonds, who had already won 400m freestyle gold and 50m freestyle bronze, has a packed programme in Canada with six individual events and was thrilled to have added to her medal haul.

"I didn't think I would be on top form here and I am amazed with how well I have done," the 18-year-old, who finished over 11 seconds clear of Germany's Verena Schott, told BBC Sport.

"I have been working a lot on my breaststroke for the individual event and that helps a lot when it comes to the medley. Winning both a gold medal and setting a world record are both special but the world record shows you are on top form.

"I love all of these events and winning gives you the same feeling as winning in London. It is what you train all those hours for and helps spur you on."

Kindred, who made his World Championship debut in Malta in 1994, added to his victories in the event in Argentina in 2002, Durban in 2006 and Eindhoven in 2010 for his seventh world title.

The oldest member of the GB team in Montreal timed his race perfectly to take the lead in the breaststroke leg before storming to his victory in the freestyle, clocking 2:41.82.

"I'm very proud," he said. "It was hard work but I'm really proud of a great result. It was just outside my personal best so it shows I was on good form as well.

"My strong part of my medley is my back end - the breast and free. I always know I'm going to be down after the fly and back. It's a case of working my strengths and holding as hard as I can in the freestyle and thankfully I was able to do that."

Fox, who set a new world record in his event in Sheffield in June, finished more than two seconds ahead of his nearest rival, Russia's Andrey Gladkov.

"In the heats I went out strong in the first 25m and struggled late on so in the final I went out a bit easier to try to finish strong," he said.

"I was a bit nervous but you put that to the back of your mind and swim your race. Going into the final you don't know what mind games everyone is going to play but I wanted to show them who is boss."

The final event of the night yielded more British success with Stephanie Millward, Susie Rodgers, Claire Cashmore and Amy Marren landing relay gold.

Millward kicked the relay off with a strong first 100m and then Rodgers followed that up to put GB in third place at the halfway point behind Canada and the USA but Cashmore stormed through her third leg and handed over to Marren in second place and it was the SM9 200m medley champion that brought the team home to the victory.

It was a second medal of the night for Cashmore who earlier set the third fastest time of her career to secure SB8 100m Breaststroke silver for the third successive World Championships.

Elsewhere, there were also silvers for Andrew Mullen (SM5 200m medley) and Hannah Russell (S12 50m freestyle).