Wiltshire swimmer over the moon after winning silver medal (From Swindon Advertiser)

Wiltshire swimmer over the moon after winning silver medal

6:00am Saturday 1st September 2012 in Sport

TROWBRIDGE swimmer Aaron Moores has described winning a silver medal at the London 2012 Paralympic Games as the best moment of his life.

The 18-year-old admitted he went into last night’s 100m backstroke final expecting to finish outside the top three, but he swam out of his skin to thrill the home crowd in London.

Moores claimed a personal best time of 1:04.44minutes to finish second and was only beaten by a world record swim of 1:01.85 from Dutchman Marc Evers.

And Moores was left stunned by his success in the Aquatics Centre in the capital, which came on his debut Paralympic appearance.

“I am so happy, I was expecting to come fourth or at best third and then I looked up and I was second,” said the Trowbridge ASC flyer.

“I was so surprised because second place is amazing. During the race I was trying to get a bronze and I looked up and I had the silver.

“It feels amazing and it is something I have been working for my whole life. Now I have finally got it.

“I didn’t expect to get a medal in my first Games. This is the best thing that has happened in my life.”

Moores got off to a strong start and was in the bronze medal position after the first 50m in front of a passionate home support at the Aquatics Centre.

He then powered into second and managed to hold off the challenge of Hong Kong’s Kai Lun Au, who finished with the bronze medal in a time of 1:04.53.

“The crowd helped me a lot, they were really cheering for me,” said Moores. “It was such a hard race and I was kicking as hard as I could. I couldn’t even feel my legs and my arms were flying all over the place.

“To win a medal in my first Games has given me a lot of confidence to take into the future.”

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