2019 MCCULLAGH INTERNATIONAL MEET
- Friday, February 22nd – Sunday, February 24th
- Aurora Aquatic & Leisure Complex, Bangor, Ireland
- LCM
- Start Lists
- SwimSwam Preview
- Day 1 Recap
- Live Results
Day 2 Highlights
25-year-old Shane Ryan doubled up on his 100m free victory from last night with another gold tonight in the 100m back at the 2019 McCullagh International. Ryan snagged the only sub-56 time of the field in Bangor, registering a time of 55.17 for the win.
Ryan has already been as fast as 54.69 this year, clocking the mark at the Flanders Cup last month. That time remains as the 17th fastest outing in the world so far this season.
Emma Reid took the women’s 50m fly tonight by a very narrow margin in a 3-woman race. Reid stopped the clock in 27.63, while 18-year-old Ellen Walshe hit the wall a fingernail length later in 27.66. Walshe took the women’s 200m fly on night 1 of this McCullagh Memorial.
Danielle Hill rounded out the top 3 in the women’s 50m fly tonight in 27.72, a new personal best for the 20-year-old by .03.
For the men, 25-year-old Brendan Hyland scored the 50m fly win in a time of 24.34, while Ards athlete Michael Hewitt also went sub-25 with a mark of 24.81. The men’s 50m fly is the only LCM Irish fly national record Hyland doesn’t yet own.
Clocking a time of 25.00, Britain’s Stephen Clegg produced a new World Record for the S12 class in the men’s 50m fly.
Perth City Olympian Stephen Milne was in the water tonight, clearing the men’s 200m free field with a winning effort of 1:50.19. And by clearing the field, we mean he edged out Irish national record holder Jordan Sloan by just .34, with Sloan hitting 1:50.53.
19-year-old Robert Powell of Athlone also landed on the podium just .04 behind Sloan in 1:50.57.
The women’s 200m breast saw Aisling Haughey take gold in 2:32.50, beating out Tallaght’s Niamh Coyne by less than a second. 18-year-old Coyne, who won a silver medal at last year’s Youth Olympic Games, raced to silver in 2:33.28 to earn the 3rd fastest time of her young career.
17-year-old Eoin Corby earned his 2nd Irish National Junior Record in as many days en route to his 200m breaststroke silver tonight. The gold medalist this evening was Darragh Greene, who forged a mark of 2:13.08, but Corby was right behind in a mighty 2:13.97.
For Corby, his outing this evening overtakes the previous junior record of 2:17.22 set by Nicholas Quinn back in 2012. Corby’s prelim time of 2:17.42 from this morning was already a personal best by over half a second.
With his sub-2:14 mark this evening, the teen blew his lifetime best out of the water with this major breakthrough of a swim. Corby’s 2:13.97 stunner this evening would have landed the Irishman in 4th place at last year’s Youth Olympic Games, just for perspective.
Corby now ranks as the 3rd fastest 18&U 200m breaststroker in the world for 2019, sitting only behind China’s Sun Jiajun’s 2:12.09 and Japan’s Taiyou Hayashi’s 2:13.90.