Danielle Hill Sets Irish 100 Back Record As She Makes Olympic Consideration Time
Danielle Hill set a new Irish 100 backstroke record of 1:00.18 to earn an Olympic consideration time at the Swim Ireland Performance Meet.
Ellen Walshe also set a new national record of 59.32 in the 100 fly, lowering her own mark of 59.54 from the Flanders Cup in January 2020, although she wasn’t one of the 10 swimmers invited to attempt consideration.
Those 10 were the ones who came within 1.5% of a FINA ‘A’ time at the Irish National Team Trials in April.
Those athletes being:
· Jack McMillan
· Niamh Coyne
· Nicholas Quinn
· Eoin Corby
· Danielle Hill
· Brendan Hyland
· Calum Bain
· Conor Ferguson
· Jordan Sloan
· Finn McGeever
Hill, coached by Peter Hill at Larne Swimming Club, needed to match or go inside the FINA ‘A’ time of 1:00.25 to earn consideration for Tokyo.
The 22-year-old lowered her national record to 1:00.34 at the trials in April, 0.09 outside the ‘A’ time.
On Thursday, she went 1:01.49 in the morning before returning to the Sport Ireland National Aquatic Centre in the evening to split 28.79/31.39 and earn consideration for Tokyo, prompting a tearful response.
Hill, who also owns the national Irish 50 back and 50 and 100 free records, told Swim Ireland:
“Anyone who knows me, knows I am not an emotional person. I don’t show emotion often, so these tears are real, and it wasn’t just about me tonight, that was for the whole Larne team.
“They have had the toughest 12 months, and when we joined back in with them, they treated Conor [Ferguson] and I like we were normal, and it was so nice to be around them again. That was most definitely for those guys.
“I’m so relieved, and so happy. I know there is a faster time in there, but it still did the job.”
🔥Danielle Hill gets that FINA ‘A’ time for Tokyo 2020 in 100m Backstroke!
⏱1:00.18
She needed 1:00.25!
The dream is real for @Danielle_FBD and @LarneSwimClub @sportireland @TeamIreland @arenaUK_ @KineticaSports pic.twitter.com/ZONwPGaenH
— Swim Ireland (@swimireland) June 24, 2021
National Centre Limerick’s Eoin Corby came closest to joining Hill on the Olympic Consideration list, posting his first sub-60 100 breaststroke in 59.99.
However, the 19-year-old was 0.06 outside the FINA ‘A’ time.
Jack McMillan went 1:47.26 in the 200 free, missing the cut of 1:47.02
Darragh Greene (100/200 breaststroke), Shane Ryan (100 backstroke), Daniel Wiffen (800 freestyle) and Mona McSharry (100 breaststroke) had already booked an individual slot for Tokyo with Hill now set to join them.
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