SWIMMER Tom Young had the ideal warm up for the Paralympic Swimming World Championships in August by winning a gold medal at the BT Paralymic World Cup last Monday.

Tom, 19, of Newbiggin, Kirkby Lonsdale, went into the World Cup with one eye on the August championships, but was delighted when he claimed gold in the 100m backstroke event after a tight race against British teammate and flatmate Sean Fraser.

And an additional plus for Tom was that his time set, 1:08:13, was a new British record, which is all-important for him in his quest to reach the Paralympics in London.

“Our coach always wants us to be at least one per cent off our PB or on it, but I brought it down by 0.3 seconds to claim the British record so I think he was happy,” said Tom, who missed out of the Beijing Paralympics in 2008 by 0.3 seconds.

He added: “It was a bitter disappointment to miss the Beijing Games but I am planning London to be my first Paralympics now. We should have the home crowd as well but there is a lot of training to do first.

“We [Team GB] are just getting back from the world cup and we will probably swim through the next four weeks before gearing up for Eindhoven.”

Tom explained a couple of his main rivals missed the World Cup and would be tough opposition at the long course world championships, but swimming 50km per week in training, he is ready for the challenge.

He said: “I was feeling a bit dead after all of the training for Manchester but we will hopefully taper down for the worlds and I am hoping to be two seconds faster there.”

His mum, Rita Young, could not be prouder of Tom’s achievements since he took up swimming aged nine - when she said he seemed to be a natural!

She said: “He has been there or thereabouts for quite a while but he seems to have raised the bar and he is being noticed now.

“The Paralympics is what he is working for now and it is all part of the plan. The worlds are the next major event and he is very focused on his goals.”

And before landing gold on Monday, Tom was the overall winner of a Fast and the Furious 50m sprint event used to prepare athletes for Monday’s World Cup.

The sprint event covered all four swimming strokes which was added to swimmers’ British Disability point score to get the overall mark.

Thomas Young Timeline 1991: Born with absent right hand and forearm and club feet 1994: Learnt to swim 2003: Started competitive swimming under the S8 classification (freestyle, fly, backstroke), SB7 (breaststroke) and SM8 (individual medley) 2003: Won the Cumbria Sports Performance Award for Disability 2005: Won the National Junior Sports Award 2007: First British records for 50m and 100m backstroke 2007: Accepted into Gallica swimming club in Lancashire and the Manchester High Performance Centre 2008: Missed out on qualification for the Beijing Paralympics by 0.3 seconds 2008: Won 3 gold and 4 silver medals at the Danish Open Championships 2009: First European record for 50m backstroke 2009: Won 2 silver medals and a bronze at the World Long Course Swimming Championships in Reykjavik 2009: Won 2 bronze medals at the World Short Course Swimming Championships in Rio de Janeiro 2010: Qualified for World Long Course Swimming Championships in Eindhoven in August 2010: Won a gold medal at the BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester