Bethany Firth finishes outside the Medals at the IPC Swimming European Championships in Berlin

Ireland's Bethany Firth finished in fourth place in the S14 200m Freestyle final at the IPC Swimming European Championships taking place in Berlin.

In her first major Championships at just 15 years of age, Firth swam a lifetime best of 2.20.33 to finish fourth behind Marlo van der Kulk 2.14.74(NED) in first place, Natalie Massey 2.15.03(GBR) in second and Magda Toeters 2.16.30(NED) in third place.

Elsewhere James Scully, Jonathan McGrath and Ellen Keane all swam lifetime bests. Scully swam 38.26sec in the S5 50m Freestyle. John McGrath swam 31.37sec in the S8 50m Freestyle while Ellen Keane knocked 3 seconds off her SM9 Individual Medley personal best clocking a time of 2.41.13.

Dave Malone, Head of Paralympic Swimming, commented, "Great swims from Bethany this evening making a final at `15 years of age in her first appearance at a major championships and swimming a new best time finishing in 4th place.

Bethany Firth commented, "I really enjoyed swimming in the finals tonight, it was great to have my first swim at the championships and I'm really now looking forward to the rest of the competition."

Following his personal best performance today, James Scully, commented, "I felt strong throughout the swim, a 50 free would not be my best event so it was great to start the meet off so positively for me."

Ellen Keane reflected on her performance in the pool on Day 2 of the Championships, "I was very happy with my swim this morning to take over 3 seconds off my old personal best, I was disappointed not to swim faster in the final but this morning's swim and time gives me a lot of confidence in the event."

Competition continues at the Swimming and Diving Center in Europasportpark.