Spain's Teresa Perales and Norway’s Sarah Louise Rung shared women’s S5 100 metres freestyle gold ©Getty Images

Rivals Teresa Perales of Spain and Norway’s Sarah Louise Rung were forced to share the gold medal in the women’s S5 100 metres freestyle event on the penultimate day of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) European Open Championships at the Complexo Olimpico de Piscinas da Penteada in Funchal.

Rung had enjoyed the more successful Championships heading into the event after already matching her tally of four gold medals from the 2014 edition of the event in Eindhoven, while Perales had earned two titles.

The pair, though, proved to be inseparable over the 100m distance as they both touched the wall in a time of 1min 21.97sec to share the title, with Israel’s Inbal Pezaro taking the bronze medal in 1:24.73.

“I am busy chasing Teresa all the time because I know this is her event,” said Rung.

“I’m glad it turned out to be a draw.”

Gold was also shared between women's S11 100m breaststroke world record holder Liesette Bruinsma of The Netherlands and Sweden’s Maja Reichard, with both swimmers completing the event in 1:25.47.

Ukraine’s Yana Berezhna was five seconds off their pace, but her efforts proved enough to claim the bronze medal.

Russia's Anna Krivshina lowered her women’s S13 backstroke world record
Russia's Anna Krivshina lowered her women’s S13 backstroke world record ©Getty Images

Berezhna’s team-mate Yelyzaveta Mereshko laid down a challenge for Britain’s Paralympic champion Eleanor Simmonds ahead of Rio 2016, after taking four seconds off her rival’s world record in the women’s S6 400m freestyle event.

Mereshko, the reigning world champion, shaved four seconds off Simmonds’ world record by finishing in 5:14.69 in the Briton’s absence to take the gold.

Another Ukrainian, Viktoriia Savtsova, finished in 5:37.52 to earn the silver medal and Britain’s Eleanor Robinson clocked 5:43.77 to secure bronze.

Russia’s world champion Anna Krivshina lowered her own world record in the women’s S13 backstroke event by 0.24 seconds, after touching the wall in a time of 1:07.05.

Shokhsanamkhon Toshpulatova provided the strongest challenge to the Russian star, the Uzbekistani swimmer clocking 1:08.50 to win the silver medal in the open event.

The European podium was completed by Ukraine’s Anna Stetsenko and Slovakia’s Karina Petrikovicova, after the duo finished in times of 1:09.90 and 1:14.85 respectively.

Singapore’s Pin Xiu Yip produced a world record time of 1:00.64 to win open gold in the women’s S2 50m backstroke competition, with Norway’s Ingrid Thunem finishing in 1:06.53 to win the European crown.

Russia’s Alexandra Agafonova and Ukraine’s Iryna Sotska clocked times of 1:06.75 and 1:10.02 to secure the silver and bronze medals respectively.