Lizzie Bellinger is having to pinch herself after clinching two silver medals in her debut at the World Masters Swimming Championships.
Colchester Swimming Club member Bellinger raced to second place in the 50 metres and 100m butterfly events in Italy.
And the 25-year-old, who competed for Great Britain in the 25 to 29-year-old age group, missed out on gold in the 50m event by an agonising 300th of a second.
But she was overjoyed by her success and said: "It was just an amazing experience beyond my wildest dreams.
"I hoped to get in the top ten. I was ranked ninth for the 50m and eighth for the 100m so I had outside lanes. I couldn't believe the result."
Bellinger clocked times of 29.14 seconds in the 50m event - a personal best (PB) by half a second and one minute 6.48s for the 100m, which almost equals her PB for that event.
Published Friday June 18, 2004
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