LEIGH’s Paralympic swimming aces helped Team GB’s women secure their second swimming relay medal of London 2012 with silver in the 34pt 4x100m Medley on the penultimate day of London 2012.

In a thrilling climax to the evening Australia took gold by just 0.03 seconds as the British quartet came home in four minutes 53.98 seconds to roars of approval from the home crowd.

The quartet of Heather Frederiksen (S8), Claire Cashmore (SB8), Steph Millward (S9) and Louise Watkin (S9) were world record holders going into the meet but with no heats, their rivals were an unknown quantity.

And while Russia took an early lead, it became clear Australia would be the team to beat as Jacqueline Freney – who had already won seven golds in London – took over for the final freestyle leg.

The Aquatics Centre reached maximum volume as the crowd cheered British anchor Watkin – who took over 13 seconds down in fifth – past Spanish, Russian and USA rivals to the wall.

Watkin had been in action earlier in the evening alongside teammate Lauren Steadman in the S9 100m Freestyle.

The Leigh swimmer ultimately finished fifth with Steadman eighth in a tight final in which South Africa’s 13-time Paralympic gold medallist brought the curtain down on her pool career with silver.

Watkin was less than a second off Spain’s Sarai Gascon in third as she set a season’s best 1:04.45 while Steadman was just 0.09 seconds off her PB from the heats as she clocked 1:06.07.

The silver medal capped off a tremendously successful games for Leigh’s Paralympic swimming pair, who finished with eight medals across seven events.

Watkin finished with two bronze medals in the 4x100m Freestyle relay and 200m S9 individual medley and silver medals in the 4x100 medley relay and 50m S9 Freestyle.

Frederiksen went one better, picking up a gold in the 100m backstroke S8 final and silver medals in the 4x100 medley relay, 400m S8 freestyle and 100m S8 freestyle.