SWIMMING Irish in Record Breaking Form at British Youth & National Championships

The British Youth and National Championships got underway this week at the Ponds Forge Pool in Sheffield with a strong Irish team challenging for honours over the course of the 6 day event. Day 1 on Tuesday saw two new Irish Junior Records and Wednesday brought two further Irish Junior Records. Today Andrew Meegan set a new Irish Senior Record in a time of 8:13.81, finishing 6th in the 800m Freestyle.

With an expected increased entry for this British Qualifying Meet, the Irish were delighted with consistent new personal best performances across the events. Seven Irish swimmers performed outstandingly to semi-finals and then continued to progress into finals providing a most encouraging start to the week. Andrew Meegan of Aer Lingus swimming club finished 7th in the final of the Open 400m Freestyle in a time of 3:58.31, whilst Enniskillen's Chelsey Wilson had a fantastic swim to finish 5th in the Open 200m Backstroke in a time of 2:16.18.

The Irish continued to show strong form on the second day of competition with a total of 10 swimmers taking part in the afternoon semi-final and final sessions. The highlight of the day was an exciting final of the 17/18 Men's 100m Breaststroke when the Irish team got behind Michael Dawson to see him smash the Irish Junior record he had achieved the evening before, in a record breaking time of 1:02:72. Michael took a strong lead and built through the race only to be just beaten for gold by 0.06s by Andrew Willis of Bracknell.

Steven McQuillan of Ards was unlucky to finish just outside the medals in the Open 50m Butterfly final, touching in 4th place in a time of 24.71. Dan Sweeney (Sundays Well) and Nicholas Quinn (Castlebar) both reached the final of the 15/16 100m Breaststroke. Both swimmers have just returned from great performances at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Finland and continued that form into the race, Sweeney finishing 6th (1:06.18) and Quinn 10th (1:06.85). Shauna O'Brien of Waterford Crystal finished 7th in the 14/15 100m Freestyle in a time of 58.33.

Other Irish swimmers are competing at this major event for their clubs with some great success. Sycerika McMahon of Leander has won a silver medal in the 14/15 100m Breaststroke (1:11.34) and went on to win a bronze medal in the 14/15 100m Freestyle (57.53). McMahon had already set a new Irish Junior Record in the heats of this event with a great time of 57.06. Shani Stallard of New Ross finished in 7th place of the 14/15 100m Breaststroke (1:14.73) whilst Donal Drought, also a New Ross swimmer, finished in 10th place in the 15/16 100m Backstroke in a time of 59.73. The event continues until Sunday 2nd August and with plenty of entries across every day of competition their promises to be much more Irish success in the Ponds Forge Pool during these championships.