The 14-year-old's time of 1:16.21 was a full two and a half seconds better than her previous best and four seconds ahead of her nearest rivals Natalie Jones as she claimed the first British gold medal of nine in a highly successful day for the home nation.

There were 18 medals in total for Great Britain as they carried on their fine form of Beijing, with other notable successes including a double gold from David Roberts in the S7 50m and 100m freestyle and a clean sweep of the medals in the women's S9 50m freestyle led by Louise Watkin.

South Africa's Natalie Du Toit, who last year became the first female amputee swimmer ever to qualify for the Olympics, was also a winner in Manchester in the S9 100m freestyle, as the fifth annual BT Paralympic World Cup was brought to a close in fitting style.

It was Simmonds though that took all the plaudits as the 2008 BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year showed the world her class once again.

“I didn't think I could get a world record in that event,” Simmonds admitted.

“It's not my favourite, I prefer the 400m free, so to break the world record in my second event and to take two seconds off my PB is really good.

“For everyone to come to Manchester for the BT Paralympic World Cup is brilliant. Hopefully this is getting British swimmers used to these sort of surroundings for London and then hopefully by London everyone will turn out to watch us all.”

Eleven-time Paralympic gold medallist David Roberts celebrated his 29th birthday in style, however it was the medals that was the icing on his cake rather than the performances themselves.

“There are nicer ways to spend a birthday but it was still good today. Neither swim was really that good but sometimes in an event like this the winning is more important,” he said.

“When doing the 100m it wasn't a great swim but I was thinking that I just really need to win this. You've got to be mean sometimes.”

British rival Matt Walker had to settle for silver and bronze behind his nemesis, with Roberts going on to say, “In the 100m I usually let Matt Walker lead for the first 45m and finish it when the work really needs to be done – I'm that kind of guy.

“It was a good race and is always guaranteed to be exciting in this type of atmosphere.”

The BT Paralympic World Cup swimming finals brought the 2009 event to a close.

The last six days have seen top international competition and over 400 athletes from 31 countries around the globe have raised the bar even higher as they start on their journeys to London 2012.

Key highlights include a world record for Jody Cundy at the Velodrome, British athlete David Weir taking double gold on the track and 'Blade Runner' Oscar Pistorius setting a T44 100m Championship Record and adding as further gold in the 400m.

The wheelchair basketball competition saw Australia take the men's title for the first time in the event history and The Netherlands women defend their 2008 title, as 357 medals were awarded to athletes in Manchester across the four sports.

BT is the title sponsor of the Paralympic World Cup; the sponsorship runs up to and includes the 2012 BT Paralympic World Cup. The official 2009 stakeholders of the BT Paralympic World Cup are the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), Manchester City Council and UK Sport. The BT Paralympic World Cup is held in association with ParalympicsGB and sanctioned by the IPC, the UCI and IWBF. The BBC, the official televised partner to the event, broadcast live from the Manchester Aquatics Centre on Monday 25 May 2009 on BBC Television.

Rights free images from the BT Paralympic World Cup can be downloaded from Action Images: www.actionimages.com.

Radio stations can obtain audio from the BT Paralympic World Cup from Made in Manchester: paul@madeinmanchester.tv / Russell@madeinmanchester.tv.