Lizzie Simmonds completed the double over world champion Gemma Spofforth as she added 200m backstroke gold to her collection at the British Gas Swimming Championships yesterday.

The 19-year-old stunned Spofforth on Wednesday as she topped the podium in the 100m, an event her rival is the world champion and world record holder in, and she repeated the trick last night.

But this time Simmonds' victory was even more emphatic as she touched home in a time of two minutes and 6.79 seconds, over two seconds ahead of Spofforth and just 13 one hundredths of a second outside the Commonwealth Games record.

"It is weird, I have been thrust into the limelight for a change ahead of Gemma," said Simmonds, who has qualified for the European Championships and Commonwealth Games in both races.

"I'm really pleased with the time and now I can look forward to the rest of the year.

"The time just makes me more determined to keep on and swim even faster."

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