European Swimming Championships Day 5

With the success for Irish swimming over the last four days at the European Championships in Hungry, which included two Olympic Qualifications, three finalists and six semi-finalists, today is the first day that no Irish swimmers will be in action in the finals' session.

Karl Burdis was first up for the Irish this morning in the 200m Backstroke. Burdis, who's strongest event is the 100m Backstroke went for the FINA A time in the first 100 metres of the event, however his time of 56.56 was outside the Olympic qualification time. Twenty one year old Burdis, who was attending his first European Competition, will be boosted by his performance at this meet, with a great semi-final swim earlier this week.

Three of yesterday's relay quartet finalists, Sycerika McMahon (2:02.17), Melanie Nocher (2:03.21) and Bethany Carson (2:03.63), were in action in the 200m Freestyle heats this morning, after a very credible 6th place finish in yesterday's 4x200m Relay final, fatigue had set in and none of the girls managed a personal best.

Sycerika McMahon and Fiona Doyle will be the only Irish in action tomorrow, both competing in the 50m Breaststroke heats. McMahon is ranked as 4th fastest qualifier going into the heats and following her FINA A time earlier in the week, the 17 year will be full of confidence going into the event.

In Canada, Barry Murphy, who has already hit the FINA A time of 1:00.79 in the 100m Breaststroke, will be swimming at the Canada Cup today. 2008 Beijing Olympian Andrew Bree will be competing in the Speedo Grand Challenge in Irvine, California.

Issued by Swim Ireland, whose High Performance Programme is supported and funded by the Irish Sports Council