SWIMMER Hannah Bickerdike is on top of the world after celebrating a record-breaking double.

As reported in the Evening Press in November, Bickerdike returned from the BT Swimming National Short-Course Disabled Championships at Ponds Forge, Sheffield, with a bronze, a silver and four gold medals.

She also set two national records on her way to claiming gold in the 100m and 200m individual medleys.

But Bickerdike, 21, was left waiting to see if she had actually set a world record as she claimed gold in the 100m individual medley.

Bickerdike, who trains at Yearsley Swimming Pool, recorded a new national best time of 2min 58.45sec, which smashed her personal best by six seconds.

But she faced a nervous wait to see if she also set a world's best; her time had to be ratified by the International Paralympic Committee in Australia.

The committee has now confirmed her 100m individual medley was a world record.

But it has also given Bickerdike another cause for an unexpected celebration.

It has now been revealed Bickerdike also set another world record at Ponds Forge as she claimed gold in the 50m breaststroke in a time of 1min 31.64sec.

Bickerdike admitted she was delighted with her record-breaking news and was particularly surprised to have set a world record in the 50m breaststroke given that the time she set at Ponds Forge was three seconds outside her personal best for the event.

However, that was before the 50m breaststroke was formally ratified by the IPC as a discipline.

Bickerdike will be looking to set world records when she swims this weekend at the Double-Dutch Championships in Deventer, Holland.

Both able-bodied and disabled swimmers will be competing in the international event.

Updated: 10:57 Saturday, January 19, 2002