Hill & Ryan Lower Newly-Minted Irish Records On Penultimate Night Of Trials

2024 IRISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS & OLYMPIC TRIALS

• Wednesday, May 22nd – Sunday, May 26th
• Sport Ireland National Aquatic Centre, Dublin, Ireland
• LCM (50m)
• Olympic Qualification Policy
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Recap|Day 2 Recap|Day 3 Recap
• Results (when available)

The penultimate night of racing at the 2024 Irish Open Championships & Olympic Trials saw Danielle Hill and Shane Ryan lower their respective women’s 50m free and men’s 100m free records.

As we reported, this morning saw 25-year-old Larne swimmer Hill fire off a time of 24.95 to take the top seed, becoming Ireland’s first-ever female to clock a 50m free time under the 25-second threshold in the process.

Tonight she took things a step further, hacking off another .27 to check in with a top-seeded mark of 24.68 out of the semi-finals. That erases her hours-old national record and also clears the World Aquatics Olympic Qualification Time of 24.70 needed for the Paris Games.

This 50m free event is added to Hill’s previously qualified event of the women’s 100m backstroke.

On her performance this evening, Hill told Swim Ireland, “I am absolutely over the moon, I’m not quite as emotional as day one. I had a little bit more fun tonight with that, there was a massive crowd down to see me so I couldn’t disappoint them. I just had a bit of fun and swam without stress or pressure and I think that’s what made the difference’.

For Ryan’s part, the 30-year-old dropped more time from the 48.55 result he notched in this morning’s heats of the men’s 100m free. That earlier effort already represented a new national record, but the former Penn State standout lowered it down to 48.49 to come within striking distance of the OQT of 48.34.

Ryan opened in 23.02 and closed in 25.47 to produce the sole time of the field under the 49-second barrier, setting himself up nicely to chase the OQT during tomorrow night’s final.

Finally, University of Tennessee ace Ellen Walshe clocked the 2nd-best time of her career en route to taking the top seed in the women’s 100m fly.

23-year-old Walshe registered a time of 58.07 (27.84/30.23) to beat the field, putting her hat in the ring for Olympic qualification in this event, hoping to add it to the 200m IM qualification she’s already nabbed.

Walshe owns the Irish national record at 57.96 and will need to be even quicker than that to achieve the OQT of 57.92 needed for the Games.