SWIMMING Irish Swimmers Get Set For World Stage

The first day of competition for the Irish swim team at the World Long Course Swimming Championships in Rome, Italy gets underway tomorrow morning, with the majority of the squad in action on day one of competition. The event will be eight days in duration, concluding on Sunday 2nd August.

Speaking about the team's preparations leading up to Rome, Swim Ireland's National Performance Director and lead coach to the team, Peter Banks commented "This is one of the first times Ireland has ever had a training camp like we did in advance of a major championships. The swimmers really felt the camp was beneficial and doing prep work all together as a team has really helped focus them towards what they want to achieve in Rome and has also prepared them in the best possible way to compete at the highest levels."

Prelim (heat) swims will take place daily in the mornings, starting at 9am local time/8am Irish time for the duration of the competition. Semi-finals and finals will take place daily in the evenings, starting at 6pm local time/5pm Irish time for the duration of the competition.

The first of the Irish in action at the pool tomorrow will be Ryan Harrison in the 400m freestyle, followed by European Junior record holder Grainne Murphy in the 200m Individual Medley. Conor Leaney steps up to the blocks for the 50m butterfly. Nuala Murphy and Niamh O'Sullivan go in the 400m freestyle. Olympian Andrew Bree will line out for the 100m breaststroke alongside teamate Barry Murphy.

The finale of the morning prelims will be the mens and womens 4x100m freestyle team relay events - where Ireland will have a team swimming in each.

Issued on behalf of Swim Ireland, supported by the Irish Sports Council.