Irish National Championships Preview

Swim Ireland's Irish Long Course National Championships kick off this Thursday 24th April at the National Aquatic Centre, Dublin where over 300 swimmers from 63 clubs will compete over 4 days of competition. The championships will serve as a final opportunity for swimmers to qualify for Summer International Meets.

2014 will see International competition focus on Europe with European Open Water and Swimming Championships taking place in Berlin in August. Seven Irish athletes including Olympians Barry Murphy and Sycerika McMahon have already qualified for the event. Joining them will be 2013 Swimmer of the Year Fiona Doyle, Irish Record holder Brendan Hyland, Nicholas Quinn, Dan Sweeney and Open Water swimmer Chris Bryan.

Sycerika McMahon is the only swimmer so far to meet the nomination time for the Northern Ireland Team for Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July. She hit the times across five different events at the Canadian Trials two weeks ago but will not be available for this week's championships due to a clash with college exams at Texas A&M.

This year's IPC European Swimming Championships will be held in Eindhoven, Netherlands with Irish Paralympic swimmers heading to Dublin just days after competing at the British Para-Swimming International Meet. Ellen Keane, Laurence McGivern, Jonathan McGrath, Darragh McDonald and James Scully had already hit the European qualification time following their performances at World Championships last August while 15 year old Ailbhe Kelly secured her first international qualification time in the UK last week.

Ireland's junior swimmers will be looking to secure a place on the squad travelling to the European Junior Swimming Championships in Dordrecht, Netherlands while places are also up for grabs on a National Squads travelling to the Canadian Age Group Championships and the Portuguese National Championships.

Speaking before the event Swim Ireland National Performance Director Peter Banks commented "It is great to have a good number of swimmers already qualified for the major meets this summer. We are looking to increase the numbers this weekend and are looking to fill the National Squad teams going to Canadian Age Group Championships and the Portuguese Nationals. With Ireland's best swimmers competing it promises to be a great 4 days of racing."