Fiddes inspired by Challis in glorious night at the pool

Watching your roommate win Paralympic gold is the best inspiration for winning one yourself according to Louise Fiddes.

The Hertfordshire swimmer stormed to SB14 100m breaststroke gold at La Defense Arena in a time of 1:15.47 to upgrade her silver from Tokyo.

Victory came just 15 minutes after her roommate and close friend Ellie Challis has taken her own maiden Paralympic title in the pool and Fiddes revealed that it was watching Challis sprint to a new British Record and medal that shook off any nerves ahead of her own final.

“I’m still in utter shock,” she said. “It’s something I’ve wanted since I was a little kid and now it has happened I still don’t know whether it’s real. There are so many emotions.

“Ellie and I both got silver in Tokyo so to step it up at the next Games and both get gold is absolutely incredible.

“I was really nervous going in to the final but watching Ellie go in and absolutely smash it really gave me that confidence boost that I needed.

“You have the believe that you’re going to win no matter what and that’s what I did.”

Fiddes took gold by more than half a second in Paris, a roaring final 20 metres propelling her ahead of the rest of the field after touching in a line at the 50m mark.

Despite feeling the chase of twin sisters duo Debora and Beatriz Borges Carneiro chasing her down, Fiddes fended off the competition in style.

“I didn’t know that I had won it until a good 30 or 40 seconds later,” she said.

“I looked at my name and saw the number one and was just wondering how that meant I could have won.

“I had looked on the turn and I could see them and knew that I was in gold position so just had to get down the other end. I felt like they were coming but I gave it my all.

But even Brazil’s silver and bronze medal winning twins could halt the double act of Challis and Fiddes in Paris, with the breaststroke swimmer gushing over their friendship.

“It’s so hard to find someone who gets it,” she said. “What we do is insane and so to have someone who fully understands is amazing.

“From being in a room together at every major, even at trials we didn’t need to share but we did. I just can’t believe we did it.”

Challis, 20, became ParalympicsGB’s youngest medallist in Tokyo with silver in the S3 event but didn’t see any challenge in Paris as she sprinted to victory.

Her time of 53.56 was almost five seconds quicker than silver medallist and Neutral Paralympic Athlete Zoia Shchurova.

It was also a new personal best and British record for the swimmer who admitted she knew she had it in her all along.

“Honestly that’s such a dream come true,” said Challis.

“I really tried not to get ahead of myself going into the event - I was four seconds ahead coming into it but I know a race is a race and it’s not over until you touch the end of the pool.

“I was very confident that I could do better than this morning and a PB was all I could ask for whether that got me first, second or third then that’s what it was. But wow that was a good swim.

“This is the goal of everyone in elite sport and to accomplish it at 20, I couldn’t put it into words really.”

Challis first took up swimming as a young child after having lost all four limbs to meningitis B at 16 months old.

It was when watching the film ‘Winter’s Tale’, which tells the true story of a dolphin with a amputated tail re-learn how to swim, that Challis saw what could be possible for herself.

It was an inspiring message which she now carries with her as she tries to inspire a new generation to take up swimming.

“We watched a film one day about Winter the dolphin and I was like oh this dolphin is just like me, it’s a really cool story.

“And at the end it tells you it’s a true story and it’s such an unbelievable moment to be like ‘oh this animal is doing what I want to do’.

“She’s passed away now but with the film she’s still inspiring people day in and day out and it’s made a huge difference in my swimming career and inspired me and maybe I’m inspiring others now.”