MOUNT Kelly’s Paralympians had an extremely successful Games, including a clutch of gold medals in the pool.

Hannah Russell, who has a visual impairment and took up swimming at the age of five, won two golds. In the S12 100 metre backstroke she claimed victory in a world record time of 1.06.06, as well as taking gold in the S12 50 metre freestyle. She also claimed bronze in the S13 100 metre freestyle.

This built on her achievements at the London 2012 Games, where she took silver in the S12 400 metre freestyle and bronze in the the S12 100 metre butterfly.

Hannah was scouted through the ‘Playground to Podium’ initiative, a British system of spotting sporting talent in young people with a disability.

Claire Cashmore claimed gold and silver in the pool too, taking gold as part of the 4x100 metre medley relay team that set a world record time of 4.45.23. Aged 28, Rio was Cashmore’s fourth Paralympic Games, picking up her eighth medal — and first gold — in the relay, ahead of Australia and the USA. As well as the relay success, Claire also took silver in the SB8 100 metre breaststroke.

In that same race was fellow Kelleian Ellen Keane, who won bronze representing Team Ireland. The 21-year-old from Dublin came home in a time of 1.23.07, triggering jubilant celebrations from her family in the Aquatic Centre.

Keane also qualified for the S9 butterfly final, where she finished eighth.

Michael Jones, who started his swimming career at the age of ten despite being born with spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy that affects his limbs, took gold in the S7 400 metre freestyle, three seconds clear of his compatriot Jonathan Fox. Jones led the race from start to finish and the British pair had too much for their rivals to contend with.

Following the win, Jones dedicated gold to his late father, who died just 58 days before the Rio Games.

After training at Mount Kelly, Michael moved to Manchester to train at the National Performance Centre, working alongside like-minded athletes and managed to achieve his goal of qualifying for the Rio Paralympics.

Lauren Steadman took silver in the women’s PT4 triathlon. She was favourite to win gold at the Rio Paralympics but narrowly missed out on the top prize to the USA’s Grace Norman.

Having initially led the swim, the first discipline of the event, Lauren took a wrong turn which ended up costing her around 45 seconds.

A strong cycle kept Lauren in contention for gold, but those lost seconds proved crucial later in the race when the American chased her down in the run, the last of the three disciplines.

Former student David Hill also put in a strong showing in the men’s PT4 triathlon, finishing tenth overall.

Headmaster, Mark Semmence, said: ‘We could not be prouder of our former pupils and what they have achieved in Rio. With four gold medals Mount Kelly would have been placed 30th in the Paralympic medal table; quite something for a small school in West Devon.

‘Hannah Russell’s yearbook message to her school friends in 2014 was: “It is all about ability not disability” and she and her teammates have certainly lived up to this sentiment.

‘With our new Olympic 50m pool only recently opened, Mount Kelly’s commitment to helping all athletes achieve their dreams is unquestioned and I have no doubt that Tokyo 2020 will bring further Olympic and Paralympic success.’

The success follows that of Mount Kelly’s Olympic representatives earlier this summer: Daniah Hagul (current pupil) who swam for Libya and former pupil, Flora Duffy, who competed in the triathlon for Bermuda.