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Chris Walker-Hebborn: 'Gold medal sticks two fingers up to doubters'

Team England's Chris Walker-Hebborn says that his Commonwealth Games gold medal is like 'sticking two fingers up' to his doubters.

Team England swimmer Chris Walker-Hebborn believes that he has proved his doubters wrong after winning a gold medal in the 100m backstroke final.

The 24-year-old set a new Commonwealth record of 53.12s to win gold, while Australia's Mitch Larkin took silver and Walker-Hebborn's England teammate Liam Tancock earned bronze.

The gold medallist has admitted that some people lost faith in him when he switched from 200m backstroke to 100m.

"I changed event last year and a lot of people questioned it because I'm obviously not as big as some of the other guys," Walker-Hebborn told reporters. "It wasn't necessarily the most stacked event here, but I wanted to come away with a win and a world contending time and I think I did that today.

"I feel as though I owe it to a few people - not many people believe in you after you've been rubbish for that long, but to come up with a win sticks two fingers up really!"

England have so far collected 11 medals in the pool.

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Danielle Joynson
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Chris Walker-Hebborn takes off at the start of the men's 100m backstroke final on July 25, 2014
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