Swim Ireland’s Irish National Team Trials continued in Dublin this evening with Danielle Hill and Eoin Corby agonisingly close to securing the Olympic Consideration Time (OCT) once again, while Hill and Victoria Catterson were in record breaking form.
Larne’s Danielle Hill came closest to the OCT in the 100m Backstroke as the 21-year-old broke her Irish Senior Record for the second time in as many days. Hill came into the meet with a best time of 1:00.90, she lowered that to 1:00.48 yesterday and took another .14 off in this evening’s final to leave her just .09 shy of the Olympic standard of 1:00.25. Hill will have another shot at the time in June.
Speaking after the race Hill commented ‘“Yesterday after the semi-final I was probably more disappointed than I am now. I had completely forgotten about today’s second opportunity. You just get caught up in this bubble, and I have got to remember that last year my focus was the 50 Free and we changed it because we had an extra year.”
“Peter (Hill, coach) said after that race – the 100 back – that had this meet not had ‘Trials’ in front of it in the name I would have taken someone’s hand off to come away with those two Irish records. So I can’t be disappointed and there are more opportunities. The only pressure I’ve really felt is from myself. I have the best support around me and the best team around me.”
Victoria Catterson broke her first Irish Senior Record in the 100m Freestyle Final. The Ards swimmer clocked an impressive 55.44 knocking over half a second off Hill’s 2019 record of 56.01. Catterson now puts herself in contention for Ireland’s 4x100m Medley Relay that will compete at the European Championships in May, where a world ranking of up to 16 would qualify a place for the team at the Tokyo Games.
A delighted Catterson commented “I’ve had my eye on that record for a while. I knew it was Danielle (Hill)’s and that I was only 0.3 off it, so I thought it was going to be broken this week and I was hoping I would be the one to break it’
“I knew I wanted to get out fast and come back fast, because my back half is my strength. I wanted to get out there and get in a good position for the second half, to try to take on the fast girls, that I know are going fast. It felt really good and strong coming down the second 50 until the last 15m, where it really started to hurt.”
Hill and Catterson return to the pool tomorrow for the 100m Freestyle Final.
Fresh from Paralympic classification last Friday, Roisin Ni Riain got her meet underway with a swim of 1:02.59 in that same 100m Freestyle.
Darragh Greene, already under the OCT, won the 100m Breaststroke Final in 1:00.08. The National Centre Dublin swimmer held off Eoin Corby of National Centre Limerick in 1:00.21. 19-year-old Corby swam a best time of 1:00.15 in the semi-final and will need to find .23 between now and his next qualification opportunity. In the women’s final, Mona McSharry was the winner once again in 1:08.92, well off yesterday’s Irish Record of 1:06.29.
Jack McMillan improved on his time from last night’s 200m Freestyle semi-final clocking 1:47.67 to take the win in the final. His Bangor team-mate Jordan Sloan also improved his time for second in 1:48.38. McMillan will now have his sight set on European Championships in May, where Ireland’s Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay will look to improve their world ranking (currently 16th) and secure an Olympic qualification place.
Ards’ Paddy Johnston took the win in the Men’s 200m Butterfly Final in a best time of 1:58.81, breaking the 2 minute mark for just the second time. Brendan Hyland had gone out hard in search of the OCT but ran out of steam in the last 10 metres to see Johnston take the touch.
Conor Ferguson took first place in the 100m Backstroke Final. The Larne swimmer hit the wall in 54.57 ahead of National Centre Dublin’s Rory McEvoy in 56.49.
Cookstown and Stirling University swimmer Calum Bain led the 50m Freestyle field once again, touching in 22.46 in the semi-final, the OCT still in sight during tomorrow’s final at 22.01.
In the 100m Butterfly semi-final Templeogue’s Ellen Walshe clocked 1:00.12 ahead of NAC’s Paralympic swimmer Amy Sheridan in 1:16.76.
This evening’s final event saw Trojan’s Grace Hodgins win the women’s 800m Freestyle final in 9:10.73 while Sundays Wells’ Liam Custer won the men’s final in 8:14.98.
Ireland currently has four swimmers under the Olympic Consideration Time; Darragh Greene (100m Breaststroke, 200m Breaststroke), Shane Ryan (100m Backstroke), Daniel Wiffen (800m Freestyle) and Mona McSharry (100m Breaststroke).
NOTES:
- The Trials are primarily open to Performance athletes currently training in recognised onshore training bubbles in the National Centre (Dublin) at the National Aquatic Centre, the National Centre (Limerick) at the University of Limerick and at Bangor Aurora Aquatic & Leisure Complex, as well as those identified athletes of similar standing who are living and training offshore.
- The competition will comprise of a full Olympic individual event programme with heats, semi-finals, and finals in all 50m, 100m and 200m events and heats and finals in 400m, 800m and 1500m events. It will give our top athletes several qualification opportunities and will provide some very exciting swims over the course of the meet.
- The meet will be live streamed on RTE Player and will be available to view worldwide.
Useful Links
RTE Player Heats 10am / Round 2/3 5.30pm
Live Results and Meet Mobile App
Swim Ireland Olympic Games Nomination Policy
Consideration Times Achieved
(Team Selections will be made at a later date)
Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games, Tokyo, Japan, 23rd July – 8th August 2011
Darragh Greene (100m Breaststroke, 200m Breaststroke), Shane Ryan (100m Backstroke), Daniel Wiffen (800m Freestyle), Mona McSharry (100m Breaststroke)
