2023 IRISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Saturday, April 1st – Wednesday, April 5th
- Sport Ireland National Aquatic Center, Dublin, Ireland
- LCM (50m)
- World Championships Qualifier
- World Championships Selection Criteria
- SwimSwam Preview
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
The penultimate night of competition at the 2023 Irish Open Championships saw 24-year-old Conor Ferguson qualify for the World Championships.
Racing in the final of the men’s 100m backstroke, Ferguson punched a new lifetime best of 54.01, comprised of splits of 26.09/27.92. That erased his previous career-quickest of 54.32 from 2021. The new mark dipped under the World Aquatics ‘A’ standard of 54.03, giving Ferguson a likely spot on the Irish roster.
Post-race, Ferguson said, ‘I just wanted that so bad, I can’t describe it, I haven’t done a significant PB in 6 or 7 years, so to do that tonight, I’m over the moon, I’m delighted.’
Behind Ferguson for silver was 16-year-old John Shortt who posted a result of 55.26. That time was good enough to qualify for the inaugural LEN U23 Championships, the European Junior Championships, as well as the European Youth Olympic Festival.
Following up on her 100m butterfly victory here, Ellen Walshe topped the women’s 200m IM podium convincingly. The 22-year-old University of Tennessee athlete put up a time of 2:12.93 to beat the field by 2 seconds.
Her outing fell just shy of her own season-best of 2:12.48 logged earlier this year at the McCullagh International, but it did dip under the ‘A’ standard of 2:12.98 needed for Fukuoka.
21-year-old Maria Godden took the women’s 100m back in a new personal best of 1:01.32, doubling up on her 200m back title already at this competition. National record holder Danielle Hill scored silver in 1:01.50.
Hill, however, was swifter in the morning, with the Larne athlete logging a time of 1:00.40. That was enough to qualify for World Championships consideration, getting under the ‘A’ standard of 1:00.59.
Additional Winners
- Grace Hodgins won the women’s 800m free in a time of 8:50.98.
- The men’s 200m free saw Finn McGeever get to the wall first in 1:50.46 while 400m IM victor here Jack Cassin was immediately behind in 1:50.77.
- Banbridge teenager Alana Burns-Atkin hit 2:20.17 to take the women’s 200m butterfly.
- National record holder Darragh Greene posted a time of 2:12.17 as the men’s 200m breaststroke winner while Limerick’s Eoin Corby notched 2:12.24 as the silver medalist.
Good swim! But another who had to leave Ireland to find it?
Don’t really have to leave Ireland, just need to avoid the national centres.
National Centre seem to be best suited for the swimmers who can’t make their own contry’s team, but are lucky enough to qualify to swim for Ireland at the big internationals
A very valid, insightful point.
What happened to the group that had Karl Burdis/Barry Murphy? Are they coaching anywhere? That group had some decent momentum coming through the ranks, and were “homegrown”, no?
@FormerBig10 Barry Murphy was with Aer Lingus until 18 then went and friend with Michigan so ‘homegrown’ until 18