Bethany Firth sets world best at Glasgow meeting

Bethany Firth set a new world record on her way to winning the 100 metres breaststroke at the British Para-Swimming International Meet in Glasgow.

The 19-year-old from Northern Ireland set the mark with her winning time of one minute 14.40 seconds in the morning heats of the multi-category event.

The County Down girl was unable to repeat that in the final but a swim of 1:15.04 was inside the old record.

That was enough for the Great Britain swimmer to take victory at the event.

The competition at Glasgow's Tollcross International Swimming Centre doubles as a qualification meet for the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships at the same venue.

Firth formerly competed for Ireland but now represents Britain.

Her performance in the SB14 100m breaststroke heats beat the former benchmark by 1.43 seconds, a time which also beat the GB qualifying standard for the event by over three seconds.

Firth's effort will become a world record, subject to ratification by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

"I'm so pleased to be here and swimming and my family are here to support me," the London 2012 gold medallist told BBC Sport. "You can't do those sort of swims if you don't have the support of everyone behind you."

Scott Quin was another British winner, fastest by almost a second and winning by 53 points under the British disability points system in the men's event.

Four-time Paralympic champion Ellie Simmonds could only manage third place in the women's 100m freestyle behind Canada's Aurelie Rivard in first and double London Paralympic medallist Hannah Russell in second.

Amy Marren, who won six medals at the 2013 IPC World Championships in Montreal, was behind Simmonds in fourth.

Josef Craig and Sascha Kindred failed to make the podium in the equivalent men's event, finishing fifth and seventh respectively in a final won by Israel's Itzhak Mamistvalov.

Durham City's Lyndon Longhorne was second of four competitors in the men's 50m breaststroke.