Courtesy: Swim Ireland
Mona McSharry lit up the pool once again, the 21-year-old shaving over a second off her Irish Record in the 200m Breaststroke, as the Irish National Team Trials continued at the Sport Ireland National Aquatic Centre this morning.
The Marlins SC and Tennessee University swimmer, who achieved the Olympic Consideration Time (OCT) in the 100m Breaststroke on Tuesday, swimming to 9th in the world in 1:06.29, is now just four tenths of a second from the OCT in the 200m event following a swim of 2:25.92.
Reflecting on this morning’s race McSharry said ‘I was definitely annoyed at myself and I still am. There was definitely a couple of things I could have done better. I know sometimes that the 200 pain takes over, but that’s why we train so much. That’s still frustrating, but looking on the bright side, I have another opportunity and we don’t always get those. It will be nice to be able to come back tonight and go for it again, and fix what I did wrong.’
‘I haven’t watched the race back yet, but I definitely think my first 100 wasn’t as good as it could be. The second 100 was definitely a good speed, but I think there was too much energy put into it for that speed, so I want to make it more of an easier swim. Then just, getting in and out of my walls, there was a bit of gliding. That could have been the .04 that I needed.”
McSharry will return to the pool this afternoon in search of the OCT of 2:25.52.
Darragh Greene, already under the OCT in the 200m Breaststroke, topped this morning’s heats in the event in 2:12.33. Eoin Corby of National Centre Limerick lead for the first 150 metres, but National Centre Dublin’s Greene had a strong final 50m to take the win, Corby touching second in 2:13.74.
With three Irish Records already under her belt this week in the 100m Freestyle and 100m Backstroke, Ireland’s fastest ever female swimmer Danielle Hill was back in the pool for the 50m Freestyle. Hill, the Irish Record holder in the event in 25.29, swam 26.11 to secure the centre lane for tonight’s semi-final ahead of National Centre Dublin’s Erin Riordan in 26.39.
In the Men’s 100m Freestyle heats there was no separating Jack McMillan and Jordan Sloan as the Bangor team-mates both touched in 49.77 to top the heats, followed by National Centre Dublin’s Shane Ryan in 50.03.
Victoria Catterson will be the top seed for tonight’s 200m Freestyle semi-final after a heat win of 2:04.12. Catterson, who broke the 100m Freestyle Irish Record on Wednesday, but handed it back to Danielle Hill last night, has been in great form this week and will be looking to break through the 2:03 barrier for the first time in this evening’s semi-final.
Brendan Hyland and Paddy Johnston battled for the top spot in the Men’s 100m Butterfly Heats. While Johnston lead for the first 50m it was Hyland who controlled the second, clocking 53.55 for the win ahead of Ards’ Johnston in in a personal best of 53.98.
Templeogue’s Ellen Walshe was back in the pool for the 200m Butterfly this morning following her sub 60 second swim in the 100m event last night. Swimming alone in the heat Walshe touched in 2:17.32.
Daniel Wiffen, who achieved the FINA OCT in the 800m Freestyle on Tuesday had an easy swim in the 1500m Freestyle this morning and will use tomorrow’s final to target the OCT of 15:00.99 in the event. Sunday’s Wells’ Liam Custer won this morning’s heat in 15:54.29.
In the women’s 1500m Freestyle Heats Trojan’s Grace Hodgins knocked 15 seconds off her best time of 17:54.88 to take the top seeding for tomorrow’s final in 17:39.03.
Conor Ferguson was the sole competitor in the 200m Backstroke heats clocking 2:05.59. The Larne swimmer is the Irish Record holder in the event at 1:58.80 and will no doubt target that in this evening’s semi-final.
A press release will issue following this evening’s finals session.
NOTES:
- The Trials are primarily open to Performance athletes currently training in recognised onshore training bubbles in the National Centre (Dublin) at the National Aquatic Centre, the National Centre (Limerick) at the University of Limerick and at Bangor Aurora Aquatic & Leisure Complex, as well as those identified athletes of similar standing who are living and training offshore.
- The competition will comprise of a full Olympic individual event programme with heats, semi-finals, and finals in all 50m, 100m and 200m events and heats and finals in 400m, 800m and 1500m events. It will give our top athletes several qualification opportunities and will provide some very exciting swims over the course of the meet.
- The meet will be live streamed on RTE Player and will be available to view worldwide.
Useful Links
RTE Player Heats 10am / Round 2/3 5.30pm
Live Results and Meet Mobile App
Swim Ireland Olympic Games Nomination Policy
Consideration Times Achieved
(Team Selections will be made at a later date)
Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games, Tokyo, Japan, 23rd July – 8th August 2011
Darragh Greene (100m Breaststroke, 200m Breaststroke), Shane Ryan (100m Backstroke), Daniel Wiffen (800m Freestyle), Mona McSharry (100m Breaststroke)
Tokyo 2021 Paralympic Games, Tokyo, Japan, 24th August – 5th September 2021
Ellen Keane (100m Breaststroke, 200m Individual Medley, 100m Backstroke), Nicole Turner (50m Butterfly, 100m Breaststroke, 200m Individual Medley) Barry McClements (100m Butterfly, 400m Freestyle), Patrick Flanagan (400m Freestyle), Róisín Ní Ríain (100m Backstroke, 50m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle, 100m Butterfly, 200m IM)