Doyle 11th in World Championship Semi-Final

Fiona Doyle has finished 11th overall in the 100m Breaststroke at the FINA Swimming World Championships in Barcelona, Spain.

Doyle was the 12th fastest qualifier going into the final in a time of 1:07.88 and swam a faster time of 1:07.81 in the semi-final, placing her 7th, but was just off her best time of 1:07.66 which won her a Silver medal at the World University Games earlier this month.

"It wasn't as good as I was hoping," commented Doyle after the race "but 11th in the World is great, it's definitely a learning curve and it's only up from here, we're three years out from the Olympics and it's a pretty nice place to be in."

Lithuania's Ruta Meilutyte was the fastest qualifier from the 100m Breaststroke semi-finals in a new World Record time of 1:04.35.

Twenty one year old Doyle will now look forward to the 200m Breaststroke heats on Thursday.

Following a personal best and Irish Record swim in the 50m Butterfly on Sunday, Barry Murphy will be back in the pool tomorrow in the 50m Breaststroke, his main event. Murphy is ranked 11th going into the event and will swim in the fastest heat. Sycerika McMahon has opted not the swim the 200m Freestyle event tomorrow and will instead be concentrating on the 100m Freestyle on Thursday.

Twelve Irish swimmers will also compete at the US Nationals in Irvine, California starting tomorrow. Irish record holders Brendan Hyland and Bethany Carson will kick off the event with the 200m Butterfly heats, while World University Games finalist Andrew Meegan wil swim the 1,500 metre Freestyle.