THE honours keep rolling in for Fareham Nomads' Jo Swatton, surely the world's top-ranked over-30 backstroke swimmer.

After two gold medals and a bronze at last year's World Masters in her first full season back in the water after a 15-year gap, Swatton proved that was no one-off at the European Masters in Palma, Majorca.

A 2min 26.28sec swim in the 200m backstroke, her strongest event, secured the gold by nearly five seconds.

She soon added the 100m gold, clocking 1:09.18 to win by less than 0.9sec.

Neither time threatened her British records, as Swatton encountered the peculiar problems which face a backstroker in an open-air pool.

As coach Stewart Crowe explained: "You've got no reference points, no roof.

"Just a clear blue sky, so you've got no sensation of speed."

Swatton improved most in the 50m backstroke, her weakest event and source of the world championship bronze medal last year, to finish second in a personal best time of 32.89sec.

Meanwhile, Donald Raymont's swimming career has begun with a splash.

The Winchester Penguin's first-ever competitive meet yielded two wins and a new county record - at the age of 71!

Raymont's debut, at the Hampshire Masters championships in Fleet, saw him smash the county's 200m freestyle age-group record by a massive 12 seconds, clocking 3:41.50 for a first county title.

He also took gold in his age group for the 100m free (1:47.01).

He explained: "I swim every day - it just gives me something to swim for, a bit of interest, a focus.

"I've only been swimming regularly since I retired in 1995."

A squash-playing friend got him into swimming. He is a past member of the Wessex Road Runners and his football career included spells with King Alfred Old Boys, Romsey Town and in the mid-1950s, after leaving the Air Force, a couple of seasons on the wing for Winchester City.

Raymont added: "I was talked into this by a friend.

"I don't even know when the next meet is. I need to get on the internet to find out.

"I'm a bit nave about it all."