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Irish Olympic Trials: Mona McSharry Lowers National 100 Breast Mark To 1:06.29 As Quartet Make The Cut
Mona McSharry twice lowered her Irish 100br record on Tuesday to post a time of 1:06.29 and go seventh in the rankings at the Irish National Team Trials in Dublin.
Daniel Wiffen set a new Irish mark in the 800 free in morning heats with Darragh Greene lowering the 100br record.
Danielle Hill also set a new 100 back record in 1:00.48 as five Irish records were set and four Olympic qualifications attained by McSharry, Wiffen, Shane Ryan and Greene on the first day of competition at the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus.
McSharry had made her maiden voyage inside 1:07 in the morning heats to set a time of 1:06.97 to go inside the FINA ‘A’ time for Tokyo which stands at 1:07.07.
The 2017 world junior champion, who is now studying and competing at the University of Tennessee, came into the competition with a best of 1:07.10.
Following her heat swim, McSharry said:
“It’s still sinking in, but I am excited to go and jump around my apartment for a little while. Just, talk to my family and be happy about it – soak it all in and make sure that I am actually enjoying the moment.
“Sometimes you can forget to live in it for a minute, so I am definitely going to work on that today, because I have been striving for this for so long.”
Come the final and after catapulting herself into the world’s top seven with the prospect of a further drop in Wednesday’s final, the 20-year-old said through Swim Ireland:
“I think it just shows I was free to race and not worry about the time. I was working on trying something a little bit different. It was a completely different race strategy to this morning, and it just worked to my advantage.
“It was really nice to have the opportunity to experience that and test it out and see if it worked. I am going to go home and analyse the 100, but honestly I’m really happy with how I competed in the 100 and I have done the job I came here to do.”
National Centre Dublin’s Niamh Coyne finished second in 1:07.58, 0.51 off the consideration time.
Hill set the swiftest time in Irish waters over two lengths of backstroke in 1:00.48, taking 0.42 off her own mark of 1:00.90 from the 2020 McCullagh International Meet and enters Wednesday’s final 0.23 off the qualification standard.
Greene had set a new Irish record of 59.76 in the 100 breaststroke in the morning – also inside the cut – and returned to go 59.86 to book lane four for the final.
Wiffen took 21 seconds off his best time in the 800m free to go under the FINA cut by two seconds in the first race of the morning.
Wiffen, who entered the meet with a best time of 8:13.72, touched in 7:52.68, inside the cut of 7:54.31.
The 19-year-old, who trains at Loughborough University and swims for Larne Swimming Club, also knocked 13 seconds off the Irish Senior Record of 8:05.30 set by Andrew Meegan in 2013.
He said:
“It’s probably the most nervous competition I’ve ever been to. I only managed to eat cereal for breakfast. I was thinking about it all day.
“I knew I had to be in and around 3:55 out on the 400 free, so I wanted to be quite comfortable out.
“I kind of knew I went out the right time and towards the end I had a cheeky look at the clock on the last 50 to see where I was.
“I just got my head down then to get that time. It’s unbelievable – 19 and going to the Olympics.
“I am over the moon and I just have to thank my parents, my coaches and all of my friends for helping me get here.”
Conor Ferguson topped the 100 back semi-finals in a best time of 54.32. Ryan, who matched the qualification time of 53.85 in the morning, was second in 54.91.
The men’s 200m butterfly semi-final saw National Centre Dublin’s Brendan Hyland control the race to win in 1:57.85.
Hyland has a best time of 1:56.55 and will need to knock .07 off that tomorrow to qualify for the Tokyo Games.
Jack McMillan heads the 200 free in 1:47.68 with the FINA ‘A’ time standing at 1:47.02.
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