WORCESTER Swimming Club star Rebecca Redfern took a giant leap towards representing Great Britain at this autumn's Rio Paralympics after setting a new world record.

The 16-year-old, who is visually impaired, starred in the S13 category of the 100m breaststroke at the British Para Swimming International Meet in Glasgow.

Redfern, who lives in Droitwich, clocked 1:16.86 to set a new S13 world record, shattering the previous best time of 1:17.12 which had stood since 2002.

Her outstanding swim was also well inside British Swimming’s consideration time for selecting athletes to compete for ParalympicsGB at the Games which start on September 7.

Redfern’s time also places her fourth in the all-time rankings for Worcestershire County as an able-bodied swimmer.

She now has to wait until May 16 for confirmation of the team selected by ParalympicsGB.

Her dad Steve Redfern said: “Rebecca was aiming for the GB consideration time for Rio.

“She had a personal best of 1:18.99, and the consideration time for Rio was 1:19.71, so she just needed to swim at her best.

“But in her heat, Rebecca swam 1:20.81, which was a bit of a nightmare for us all and left her struggling with nerves and anxiety all afternoon ahead of the evening’s final when she would have one last chance. She was so much stronger in the final.”

Redfern is swimming today in the 200 metres individual medley and 50 metres freestyle before travelling back home to Worcestershire.

She will be flying out to Madeira on Friday to make her international debut for GB at the IPC Swimming European Open Championships before returning in mid-May for her GCSEs.

Redfern’s brother Matthew has also competed at the Glasgow event.

Participating in his first major event, he made three finals and achieved six personal bests.