SWIMMING Irish Swimmers qualify for European Competition

The final qualifier of the session was swimming sensation Grainne Murphy (16:41.39) who qualified for the European LC Championships in the 1,500m freestyle final competition. Murphy's 800m split time (8:40.96) sees her through to the championships in Budapest. Second place in the 1,500 freestyle race went to Slovenian swimmer Tjasa Oder (16:43.47) while Trojans Nuala Murphy (17:05.64) took bronze. Peter Banks, Performance Director for Swim Ireland said "we are very happy with today's qualifiers and encouraged with the early season form of the Irish swimmers".

The final of the men's 200m freestyle was won by Conor Leaney of Larne SC in a time 1:55.22 ahead of Dermot Clerkin of Trojan SC and Fintan Meagher of Glenalbyn. Niamh O'Sullivan of Kingdom SC won the women's event in 2:05.44 ahead of Tara Dunne (2:06.44). The men's and women's 4x50m relay events also took place today. ESB SC, featuring Olympian Aisling Cooney in lead off leg, took gold in an exciting finish to the women's event in a time of 2:05.25, just ahead of Aer Lingus SC (2:05.49) and Lisburn City (2:11.67), whilst the men's event went to Larne SC in (1:40.95) featuring Conor Leaney, David Johnston, Mark Wylie and Gavin Williamson.

The women's 100m backstroke final was won comfortably by Aisling Cooney of ESB with second place taken by Slovenian Jera Majeric (1:07.08) following an exciting dual with Aer Lingus swimmer Niamh McDonnell (1:07.35). Steven McQuillan of Ards SC finished well in 25.53 ahead of Eoin Gray (Trojan) and David Cooney (ESB) to win the men's 50m butterfly final. The final 2 events of the session were the men's and women's 200m individual medley. St Paul's SC dominated the men's final with Niall Wynn of St Pauls SC winning in a time of 2:08.36 with Philip Duffy third in 2:13.50. Second place was taken of William Ensor of Westwood in 2:12.67. Grainne Murphy of Limerick SC finished well ahead of the rest of the field in 2:17.96, achieving a qualification standard for the World Youth Olympic Games. Leander's Sycerika McMahon was second in a time of 2:21.71 with Shani Stallard of New Ross third in 2:25.53. The competition concludes tomorrow, Sunday at the UL Arena.

Swim Ireland is supported by the Irish Sports Council