Fiddes tops World Series table

Teenage swimming star Louise Fiddes revealed her shock at winning the 2018 World Para Swimming World Series following the circuit’s last event in Berlin.

The 17-year-old topped the standings as the best-performing female, taking the title with 4,041 points across the series that included two other legs in Italy and Sheffield.

Canadian three-time Paralympic champion Aurelie Rivard finished second with 3956 points and Rio 2016 bronze medallist Chantalle Zijderveld from the Netherlands came third with 3,952.

“I’m so proud, I cannot believe I won,” said Fiddes, who dreams of competing for ParalympicsGB at Tokyo 2020.

“It is shocking. There are so many athletes that are better than me. I did not expect all this to happen so quickly. I expected to come top ten but not to win.

The youngster also won the junior series title ahead of Zijderveld and Italy’s five-time world champion Carlotta Gilli, who ended with 3,924 points.

The National Paralympic Committees’ title was awarded to Great Britain with 15,742 points, who won the honour for a second year running, while Netherlands (15,345) and Brazil (15,343) completed the podium.

Fiddes’ success caps off a brilliant season for British Para-Swimming, and national performance director Chris Furber praised the hard work of all the athletes.

Furber said: “We have seen some exceptional performances from our swimmers so far this year – facing difficult competition and many having to deliver performances around classification reviews.

“For Britain to top the World Series rankings for a second year is not only a reflection of the hard work put in by our athletes, but also by the world class coaches and support staff we have in place.”

With the World Para Swimming European Championships in Dublin in August, Furber believes Fiddes is peaking just at the right time.

He added: “Louise has put in some great performances this year, taking two seconds off her PB in the 100m breaststroke in Sheffield, and earning three qualification standards for the European championships.

“With Dublin 2018 around the corner I am sure we will see more from Louise and all our other athletes.”