Swimming European Senior Championships DAY 3

Grainne Murphy Produces Stunning 800m Freestyle in Budapest - Press Release

Budapest, 11 August 2010 - Grainne Murphy was without a doubt the story of the day today in Budapest, at the European Swimming Championships, day three. Not only did she smash her own Irish senior 800m freestyle record by almost eight seconds (8.28.91), but she dominated and won her heat and is now the fastest qualifier for tomorrow evening's 800m freestyle final.

The seventeen-year old's PB (and Irish record) before today was 8.36.63, which she set last July at the European Junior Championships in Prague. And today, she catapulted herself onto the senior stage of European swimming in style. With a split time of 4.14.84 at the halfway (400m) mark, it was obvious at that stage just what Grainne was capable of producing. Holding 1 minute.04 100m split times throughout the race, with a sneaky 1.03 on her last 100 metres, the Wexford swimmer owned a race, which included world champion Lotte Friis of Denmark.

Speaking on poolside afterwards, a delighted Murphy said; "It was an amazing swim, I'm really happy with my performance, but Lotte is well able to go faster in the final so we'll have to see what happens. I have a day's rest now, so my plan is to get as much sleep and rest as possible between now and tomorrow. I had a fair idea how fast the others were going to take the race out and what they were trying to do but I just focused on my race which was really really, good - I started off strong and was able to hold on throughout the whole swim." Murphy goes in the 800m final tomorrow at 16.00 Irish time/17.00 local time, and faces fierce competition in tomorrow's final from World Champion Lotte Friis, current World Record Holder Rebecca Adlington and the World Record Holder over 200m and 400m freestyle, Italy's Federica Pellegrini. Full Interview: G.Murphy_after_800m_fs_heats.mp3

Meanwhile, there was disappointment in the pool this morning for Ireland's Andrew Bree in the 200m breaststroke. The Helen's Bay swimmer, who now trains full time with the Trojans at Southern California, finished 17th overall in 2.15.02, but it was not enough to advance him to the semi-final round. "I'm disappointed, you know, it was just a disappointing morning - didn't feel as smooth as I'd hoped," said a disillusioned Bree after the race. "Obviously I like to have more ups than downs, but I can't dwell on this because if I do, it's going to affect every other part of my preparations. I do have the Commonwealth Games coming up in October and then re-focusing on the big one next year - World Championships in Shanghai."

22-year old Melanie Nocher finished her heat of the 100m backstroke in a respectable 1.03.46, slightly outside her PB and she has one more event remaining to swim at these Championships - the 200m freestyle which is on Friday.

Day 3 Overall Results:

Heats:

M 200m breaststroke: A. Bree 2.15.02, 17th place

W 100m backstroke: M. Nocher 1.03.46, 27th place

W 800m freestyle: G. Murphy 8.28.91, *Fastest Qualifier for Final