FORMER Plymouth College and Plymouth University student Laura Stephens created history on Thursday by becoming world champion in the women’s 200m butterfly event.
Stephens led from start to finish and clocked 2:07.35 to hold off the challenge of Denmark’s Helena Bach and become Great Britain’s first world champion in that event.
No British female had won a World Championship gold medal since Rebecca Adlington in 2011.
Her achievement was even more remarkable as she is still in hard training ahead of this summer’s Olympic Games.
She admits her gold in Doha has given her a massive confidence boost ahead of hopefully competing in Paris.
“I’m definitely very happy, it’s really hard to put into words to be honest with you, I just can’t believe it,” she said.
“I came into this meet hoping for three solid swims, to learn through the process – and to come away on top of the podium is kind of crazy.
“I had no expectations in terms of time, it’s February, so I couldn’t even come into this hoping for PBs or things like that. But that is a really solid swim, it’s a great way to start off the long-course season and hopefully I can just get faster and faster.
“This definitely gives me a lot of confidence towards Paris. If anything, it just makes me more excited to get back into the hard work, into the training and to keep on improving.”
Stephens’ gold medal came just a few hours after Plymouth’s Aidan Heslop won gold in the men’s high diving event.