Taking Silver at the BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester. 31 May 2010

A few days after celebrating his 30th birthday, David Roberts was competing in Manchester on Bank Holiday Monday, on the final day of the BT Paralympic World Cup, where four World records were broken in the pool.

In his first international competition since the Paralympic World Cup last year, after a frustrating 12 months with periods of both illness and injury, David was happy to be back representing GB.

He finished second in the 50m Freestyle behind GB teammate Matthew Walker, in the penultimate event of the afternoon. David clocked a time of 29.42 behind Matt Walker’s 28.51 seconds. In third place was the American Lantz Lamback.

Having now switched his training base from Swansea to Caerphilly for a fresh challenge on his journey to London 2012, he said afterwards:

“I was expecting to be beaten but happy to swim my fastest time of year, after such a difficult 12 months.

“This is a good stepping stone for me to the World Championships in August; I am pleased with how training has gone recently, especially over the last 4 weeks.

“I had never missed a major championship until last year, then I missed two with injury and now I really believe this is the start of my build up to the London Paralympics.

“I am really enjoying training in Caerphilly, it gives me a chance to refocus and be re-energised, this is a new phase of my career and I really want to enjoy it!”

The GB team won the swimming competition overall, with 44 points ahead of the Rest of the World with 29 points, Europe with 24 points and America with 22 points.

To view the interview with Andrew Longmore in the Sunday Times, click on the link below.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article7140202.ece