Swim Ireland’s Irish Winter Meet got underway at the Sport Ireland National Aquatic Centre today with a select group of Ireland’s elite athletes racing across three days, all in long course (50m) format on day one.
Daniel Wiffen was the star of the opening day of the meet as the 19-year-old, swimming on his own, set a new Irish Senior Record of 15.19.04 in the 1500m Freestyle. The previous record of 15:19.98, belonged to Andrew Meegan and had stood since 2013.
Speaking after the race Wiffen commented ‘I was trying to split a fast 800 time, but it felt very sore at the end. But I was happy enough. I recently moved to England for university and upped the mileage a lot, so it’s a bit tough. I’m happy to take down the 1500 mark, it was standing there for a while. It was Andrew Meegan’s before, and I raced him when I was younger, so I was happy to take his record over anybody’s.’ On the return to racing today he added ‘It’s very weird competing here today, I had to do the race by myself, and I would have loved somebody beside me, just to keep me going. But then, I actually enjoyed swimming by myself at the same time.’
Also, back to record breaking form was National Centre Limerick’s Eoin Corby, who set a new junior standard in the 50m Breaststroke. Corby broke his own record of 28.33 in 27.76 ahead of National Centre Dublin’s Darragh Greene in 27.81. Niamh Coyne won the Women’s event in 32.27.
In the 50m Backstroke, Larne’s Danielle Hill was just outside her Irish Record winning in 28.39, while National Centre Dublin’s Shane Ryan touched first in the men’s event in 24.91.
Ards’ took a double win in the 50m Butterfly with Ellie McKibbin clocking 28.54 to win the women’s event while Paddy Johnston was the first man home in 25.50.
Trojans Grace Hodgins had got today’s meet underway in the 800m Freestyle where the 15-year-old, with no competitors around her, touched in 9:21.19.
Full Results available HERE.
