Irish team returns from European Juniors with eleven new records

An unprecedented ten new Irish Junior Records and one new Senior Record have been set by Ireland’s swim team at the Junior European Championship in Antwerp, Belgium.  The team, which returns to Ireland today, also had finalists in four events and semi-finalists in ten events, thrashing last year’s results of two semi-finalists only. In all, 24 personal bests were also set by the seven-strong team.

Stars of team were fifteen year old twin sisters Eimear and Fiona Doyle (NPC-UL) from Limerick.   Eimear became the first Irish swimmer in a decade to reach a final in the Juniors on the first day of competition, setting a new Irish Junior Record in the 50m breaststroke.  Fiona set new Irish Junior Records in the 100m freestyle, 200m breaststroke and three times in the 50m freestyle.  Eimear’s 5th place finish in the 50m freestyle finals (26.39) is the highest ranking from an Irish swimmer in this competition in well over ten years and was just .06 seconds off the bronze medal.

Andrew Meegan (Aer Lingus) from Dublin also performed strongly, breaking two Irish Junior Records as well as setting a new Irish Senior Record in the 1500m freestyle.  The Women’s 4 x 100 freestyle relay - Niamh O’Sullivan (NPC-UL & Kingdom), Bethany Carson (Lisburn), Eimear Doyle and Fiona Doyle - set new Irish Junior Records in both the heats and again in the finals with 3:56.69 to finish 7th, which is just one second off the Irish Senior record.

Commenting on the overall performance from the five day competition, Steve Price,  Performance Coach at the University of Limerick and lead coach for the meet, said: “This performance from the Irish team shows they belong at this level of competition and can compete with distinction at highest level with other nations.  Much like Harrington’s victory in the golf over the weekend, the quality of the Irish swim team’s performance at this championship brings a tremendous mental boost and focus on further winning performances.

Next up for these swimmers is the British Youth Championships in Sheffield from Friday 27th July and many should be in a position to medal after the great performances at the Junior Europeans.  We also have four more swimmers from the 2012 development team competing at the European Youth Olympics Festival in Belgrade from 22 – 27th July.  By staying on the High Performance and Development track, Irish swimmers will be vying for medals at the Junior Europeans and other competitions again next year and will be a force to be reckoned with. Well done to all involved this week.”

Other key meets for the 2012 development team this month include:
- European Youth Olympics Festival in Belgrade from 22 – 27 July
- British Age Groups, Sheffield, 23-26 July
- Irish National Swimming Championships, Lisburn, 25-28 July
- British Youth Championships, Sheffield, 27 July – 1 August

For further information contact: Sarah Ryan, Drury Communications on 01 260 5000 / 087 6767452