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
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
History was made this morning in Dublin as 25-year-old Tom Fannon became the first-ever Irishman to get under the 22-second barrier in the men’s 50m freestyle.
Competing in the heats of the men’s 100m free event on day two of the Irish Open Championships, Fannon ripped a 21.95 scorcher to open the race. That time erased an over-decade-old national record of 22.14, a mark Barry Murphy put on the books way back at the supersuited 2009 World Championships.
Fannon’s previous personal best of 22.09 from the 2018 Commonwealth Games would have already outperformed Murphy’s record; however, Fannon represented England internationally prior to switching to Ireland.
In this 1free prelim, Fannon ultimately touched in a result of 1:00.06 after a back-half cool-down to place way down the list of contestants so he won’t get a chance to lower the mark tonight at least. However, he is entered in the individual 50m free event which is on the agenda for Wednesday.
Fannon’s 21.95 effort clears the 22.12 World Aquatics ‘A’ standard needed for this summer’s World Championships and also now renders the NCD Laser swimmer to be ranked 7th in the world this season.
2022-2023 LCM Men 50 Free
McEvoy
21.06
| 2 | Ryan Held | USA | 21.50 | 07/01 |
| 3 | Florent Manaudou | FRA | 21.56 | 06/15 |
| 4 | Jack Alexy | USA | 21.57 | 07/29 |
| 5 | Benjamin Proud | GBR | 21.58 | 07/29 |
What County in Ireland is he from? Good to see Rudd’s plan of bringing in non-Irish to bolster his reaults and cook the record books is working
Thrilled to see Tom and Steve are finding success since going over to Ireland – Here’s to a lot more of it!
Is he not British?
Yes, and he is also Irish – If he wasn’t, he would not be eligible to compete for Ireland. National identities are not mutually exclusive.
Not for Jon Rudd they’re not