PRESTON swimmer Lauren Newton put on an outstanding record breaking performance to win her second gold medal in the Deaflympic Games in Melbourne, Australia.

Lauren, 16, a member of Preston Swimming Club, left her rivals trailing to win her second gold medal with victory in the women's 100m breaststroke final.

Her time of 1:17.41 was over a second faster than silver medallist.

Lauren's first gold was won setting a new deaf world record of 35.73 seconds in the 50m breaststroke final on Sunday.

And she narrowly missed out on a medal in her Deaflympic debut in the 200m breaststroke on Saturday, just days after her birthday on Boxing Day.

Her achievements are even more impressive because she has only been swimming for team GB for six months.

Lauren, a pupil at Penwortham Girls High School, Cop Lane, Penwortham, said: "The team spirit within the GB swim team has been wonderful and I'm so proud to be able to bring home a gold medal."

More than 3,500 deaf and hard of hearing athletes and team officials from 90 countries are participating in the Deaflympics, being held from January 5 to 16.

Marshall Thomas, of Deaflympics UK, said: "Lauren's success is not entirely unexpected, when she was discovered she showed a lot of potential, but she still has to go out there and win it."