Irish Junior Record for Fleming in Poznan

Laoise Fleming got off to a great start on her debut European appearance. 14 year old Fleming who swims for Kells SC and at Swim Ireland's NAC Performance Centre in Dublin set a new Irish Junior Record in the 200m Backstroke semi-final in Poznan this afternoon at the European Junior Swimming Championships.

A delighted Fleming said "I'm very happy with the Irish Record, I went out too fast in the heats this morning and changed that this afternoon after watching the race back, I'm looking forward to the rest of my events this week".

Laoise's time of 2:18.53 knocked Tara Dunnes 2009 Record of 2:19.45 from the books and placed her 14th overall at her first European competition. Fleming still has the 50m and 100m Backstroke events to come this week.

Tallaght and NAC Performance Centre swimmer Clodagh Flood and Sarah Kelly of Comans Swimming Club in Roscommon put in impressive performances in the semi-final of the women's 200m Butterfly. Flood bettered her time from this morning's preliminaries to finish 12th overall in 2:19.87, while Kelly finished in 2:20.03 and 14th overall. Both are back in action tomorrow in the 400m Freestyle heats.

Brian O'Sullivan was also in semi-final action this evening, the 18 year old who trains under Lars Humer at Swim Ireland's UL Performance Centre finished 17th overall in the 100m Backstroke in a time of 57.85.

Commenting on the first day at European Junior Championships, head coach Pearse McGuigan was pleased with the team's performances "We had solid performances all round today, with four swimmers making semi-finals and swimming well in their respective events. Laoises Record was a nice highlight to end day one which bodes well for day two"