Gerry Quinn Breaks Irish Junior National Record on Day 1 in Dublin

2016 Irish Open Swimming Championships

• April 28th-May 1st, 2016
• Prelims 9:45AM local time/Finals 5:30PM local time
• Psych Sheets
• Live results

Swim Ireland’s Irish Open Swimming Championships kicked off at Dublin’s National Aquatic Centre today with 10 National Titles up for grabs on the first day of competition.

Gerry Quinn set a new Irish Junior Record in the 200m freestyle adding to the 100m record he set at the Dave McCullagh Meet in March. The 18-year old Longford swimmer, who has already qualified for the European Junior Championships, broke Conor Leaney’s 2009 Record of 1:50.98 taking gold in 1:50.85. Rachel Bethel was crowned National Champion in the women’s event in 2:02.82 but was beaten to the wall by Danielle Villars of Switzerland in 2:01.78.

UCD’s 400m rreestyle Relay team of David Prendergast, Jack Keogh, Alex Melennec and Kevin McGlade were also in record-breaking form this evening. The quartet set a new Irish Senior Club Relay Record, beating their 2015 time of 3:28.75 to win in 3:28.07. McGlade anchored the team home just ahead of Ards in 3:28.58. In the women’s event Ards earned the title of national champions with a winning time of 4:00.00.

Brendan Hyland retained his 200m butterfly title as he cruised to victory in tonight’s final. The 22-year old Tallaght swimmer touched the wall 4 seconds ahead of second placed Calum Reid (2:04.92) from Scotland in 2:00.64. Reid’s Scottish countrymate Tain Bruce won the women’s event in 2:15.54 but it was 15-year old Ellen Walshe from Templeogue who collected the Irish Title in 2:17.42.

Andrew Meegan claimed back the 1500m Irish title in the night’s first Final. Meegan, who last won the title in 2014, had been third throughout the race but swam an impressive last 100 metres to finish in 16:12.67, just ahead of Gabriel Jegher (16.12.99) and Ennis’ Hugh McMahon (16:14.89).

In the 100m backstroke semi-final, Conor Ferguson, Shane Ryan and Girts Feldbergs set up a final worth watching tomorrow. Ferguson was just fourth-tenths-of-a-second off the FINA Olympic A time but with Ryan and Feldbergs to race against in tomorrow’s Final, an Olympic qualification time is well within reach. In the women’s event, Kristina Steins (1:02.41) was the fastest qualifier with Danielle Hill the first placed Irish swimmer in 1:03.79.

The night’s final individual event saw Mona McSharry claim the women’s 50m Breaststroke National Title in 32.68 seconds while in the men’s event UCD’s Darragh Greene took Gold in 28.19.

Swimming Ireland’s media staff contributed to this report. 

Full Results Day 1

Men 1500m Freestyle Final: 1^st A Meegan Aer Lingus 16:12.67 2^nd *G Jegher  SKB 16:12.99 3^rd H McMahon Ennis 16:14.89

Women 800m Freestyle Final: 1^st *K Taylor Scotland 9:14.79 2^nd *M Perea Bordonaba Aer Lingus 9:16.29 3^rd S Hickey Limerick 9:22.94

Men 200m Freestyle Final: 1^st G Quinn Longford 1:50.85 IJR 2^nd J Sloan Bangor 1:51.30 3^rd D Power UCD 1:55.02

Women 200m Freestyle Final: 1^st *D Villars L SHK 2:01.78 2^nd R Bethel Lisburn 2:02.82 3^rd M Byrne Trojan 2:06.70

Men 200m Butterfly Final: 1^st B Hyland Tallaght 2:00.64 2^nd *C Reid Scotland 2:04.92 3^rd *N Van Duijn L SHK 2:04.93

Women 200m Butterfly Final: 1^st *T Bruce Scotland 2:15.54 2^nd E Walshe 2:17.42 3^rd S Kelly Claremorris 2:18.58

Men 50m Breaststroke Final: 1^st D Greene UCD 28.19 2^nd J Graham Bangor 28.21 3^rd *L Pfyffer  L SHK 29.59

Women 50m Breaststroke Final: 1^st *S Granicher ARFS 32.66 2^nd M McSharry Marlins 32.68 3^rd N Coyne Tallaght 33.07

Men 4x100m Freestyle Team Relay: 1^st UCD 3:28.07 2^nd Ards 3:28.58 3^rd NAC 3:30.75

Women 4x100m Freestyle Team Relay: 1^st Ards 4:00.00 2^nd Sunday’s Well 34:02.71 3^rd Trojan 4:05.76

*foreign swimmer 

Qualification Times Met (including at prior meets; selection of athletes for all events will be made at a later date)

LEN European Swimming & Open Water Championships, 16^th – 22^nd May, London, United Kingdom

Qualifiers: Fiona Doyle, Christopher Bryan (Open Water, July), Jordan Sloan, Conor Ferguson, Brendan Hyland, Antoinette Neamt, Sycerika McMahon, Dan Sweeney, Nicholas Quinn, Shane Ryan, Alex Murphy, Mona McSharry, Danielle Hill

European Junior Swimming Championships, 6^th – 10^th July 2016, Hungary

Qualifiers: Rachel Bethel, Niamh Coyne, Conor Ferguson, Danielle Hill, Rory McEvoy, Mona McSharry, Antoinette Neamt, Emma Reid, Ellen Walshe, Gerry Quinn, Iseult Hayes, Emma Moloney, Ally Cunningham, Rebecca Reid

Olympic Games, 6^th – 20^th August 2016, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Qualifiers: Fiona Doyle (Swimming), Oliver Dingley (Diving), Shane Ryan (Swimming), Nicholas Quinn (Swimming)