STARS Fran O'Connor and Claire Cashmore hit top form to set new national records at the British Disability Swimming Championships in Sheffield.

Wyre Forest Swimming Club member O'Connor, 17, set new records in the 50 metre and 100m freestyle races in the S7 category, but missed out on the qualifying time for the Beijing Paralympic Games in the summer by a fraction of a second.

Kidderminster's Claire Cashmore was also one of the area's queens of the pool, as she set a new British record in the 100m breaststroke at Ponds Forge.

Hagley Catholic High School pupil O'Connor, who has cerebral palsey, broke her own national record in the 50m freestyle in a time of 36.71s, which secured her a silver medal behind the reigning German world champion and record holder.

She then smashed the record again in the multi-disability event, setting a time of 36.06s to leave her seventh in the world rankings and 0.2 seconds off a place in the Great Britain squad for China this summer.

In the 100m freestyle O'Connor maintained her blistering form by breaking her own British record in a time of one minute 20.62s to win silver behind her German rival.

In the A race final she came close to obtaining a Paralympic qualifying time , when she shaved off another second in the 100m freesyle by setting 1-19-62s, which rose her place in the world rankings to seventh.

John Howles, Wyre Forest's director of coaching, said "Fran is not just an outstanding swimmer but an outstanding young lady as well and I feel proud to be associated with her.

"I would like to thank John Thorley and the other coaches for their input into Fran's development over the past twelve months."

Kelly College student Cashmore also returned to top form over the weekend to set three new personal best times and claim a British record.

After being laid low by a viral infection at the national championships at the start of April, Cashmore, whose left arm is severed a the elbow, showed her true capability by setting a new national standard of 1-26-61 in the 100m breastroke.

The swimmer, who had already qualified for the Great Britain Paralympic squad in the 100m breaststroke, qualified for the games in Beijing in the 200m individual medley with a personal best time of 2-45-19.

She also set a new personal best time of 1-16-96 in the 100m butterfly and finished the 50m freestyle in 31-33s.