Liz Johnson, British Paralympic Swimmer

At the International Paralympic Committee Swimming European Championships in Berlin, I finally completed my set of major championship gold medals (World Long Course, World Short Course, European and Paralympic).

I did so by winning the SB6 100m Breaststroke in an exciting race with my compatriot, good friend and close rival, Charlotte Henshaw.

It was a very satisfying feeling to post a best time in our last major benchmark meet before London 2012. I’ve spent the last two years doing the ground work in the training pool to best prepare me to fine tune my skills in the lead up to the Games next year. 

For the Great Britain team as a whole, the competition has proved to be very successful with some of the debutants really rising to the challenge, producing massive personal best times and picking up many medals, and many of the more experienced athletes leading by example. 

We have been away for a total of two weeks, with four days spent at a preparation camp in Manchester. This proved useful as it is where we will base ourselves to prepare for the Paralympic Games next year. Having the opportunity to familiarise ourselves with the surroundings means that we have one less thing to be concerned about next summer. 

The current team has a great balance of youth and experience and the camaraderie within the squad as a whole is one of the best I’ve ever experienced. This contributes massively to the squad having a great ethos and using each other’s performances as inspiration. 

For me personally, the IPC Swimming European Championships in Berlin marked the first event in a series of races that I will compete in over this summer. From here, my teammates and I return to Great Britain to race at a competition at Ponds Forge in Sheffield during the last week of July. There, we will all look to reinforce our performances from this swim meet and build on our performances.

My summer race season will conclude at the Pan-Pacific Swimming Championships in Edmonton on August 14th. I will be racing the best competitors from outside of Europe in my classification – possibly for the last time before we hopefully all meet again at London 2012.

The London 2012 Paralympic Games get under way on the 29 August next year. Ticket applications open on 9 September 2011.

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