Alex Murphy Secures Worlds QT on Opening Day of Irish Swimming Championships
Alex Murphy of UCD Swimming will join Fiona Doyle, Sycerika McMahon and Chris Bryan on the Irish team for the World Swimming Championships in Kazan, Russia this Summer following a 27.56 second winning swim in the 50m Breaststroke Final on the first day of competition at the Irish Open Swimming Championships at the National Aquatic Centre. Murphy had flirted with the time in today’s semi-final posting 27.62 to qualify as the fastest swimmer into the Final, he then went on to take .06 of a second off that time in the Final to go under the qualification time of 27.58. A delighted Murphy commented “I wanted to get the time in the semi-finals, when I didn’t get it I was disappointed and wasn’t sure if I could do it in the final but I went for it again and am really pleased with the result, as my coach tells me “Feel the fear and do it anyway!””.
The National Club Swimming Association (NCSA) team from the USA had a clean sweep from first to fourth in the women’s 50m Breaststroke Final with Alexis Wenger holding off her teammates to take the win in 31.86 while Niamh Kilgallen (Claremorris) was the first Irish swimmer home in 33.20.
Larne’s Danielle Hill set a new Irish Junior Record in the semi-final of the 100m Backstroke. In qualifying for tomorrow’s final, Hill knocked one tenth of a second off Jane Roberts’ 2013 record finishing in 1:04.12.
In tonight’s distance events Grainne Murphy returned to national level swimming with a win in the 800m Freestyle. Murphy set out with intent and led throughout the race to take the national title in 8 minutes 43.37 seconds ahead of Kendall Brent (NCSA) in 8:46.70 while Antoinette Neamt was fourth in 8:48.31. Brendan Gibbons won the 1500m national title in a time of 15:51.34, Gibbons touched in third place behind NCSA swimmers Matthew Hirschberger (15:29.08) and Gavin Springer (15:50.90).
Brendan Hyland retained his 200m Butterfly National Title for the third year running. Hyland recorded a time of 2:00.29, over a second off his Irish Senior Record of 1:58.68 set at the 2014 championships, to take the Gold medal.
Lisburn’s Rachel Bethel claimed the Irish 200m Freestyle title. Bethel, who will represent Ireland at the Summer European Games, was the first Irish swimmer home in 2:03.72. In the Men’s event AURA Dundalk’s Brian O’Sullivan touched in second place in 1:52.62 behind Denmark’s Frans Johannessen (1:50.82).
In the night’s final races the NCSA 4x100m Freestyle Relay teams dominated both the men’s and women’s events. The men cruised to victory in 3:24.54 while the women clocked 3:45.49 to claim first place.
Day 1 Results
Men 1500m Freestyle Final: 1st M Hirschberger NCSA 15:29.08 2nd G Springer NCSA 15:50.90 3rd B Gibbons Athlone 15:51.34
Women 800m Freestyle Final: 1st G Murphy New Ross 8:43.37 2nd K Brent NCSA 8:46.70 3rd L Stone NCSA 8:47.92
Men 200m Freestyle Final: 1st F Johannessen 1:50.82 2nd B O’Sullivan Aura Dundalk 1:52 .62 3rd M Hirschberger NCSA 1:52.64
Women 200m Freestyle Final: 1st K Drabot NCSA 2:00.07 2nd M Moroney 2:02.01 3rd A Wooden 2:02.88 4th R Bethel Lisburn 2:03.72
Men 200m Butterfly Final: 1st B Hyland Tallaght 2:00.29 2nd Z Harting NCSA 2:00.82 3rd Z Fong NCSA 2:02.23
Women 200m Butterfly Final: 1st R Martin NCSA 2:12.69 2nd L Case NCSA 2:13.06 3rd C Cummings 2:18.46 4th E Reid Ards 2:20.83
Men 50m Breaststroke Final: 1st Alex Murphy UCD 27.56 2nd I Finnerty NCSA 28.41 3rd D Sweeney Sundays Well 28.73
Women 50m Breaststroke Final: 1st A Wenger NCSA 31.86 2nd O Anderson NCSA 31.92 3rd I Wall NCSA 32.84 5th N Kilgallen Claremorris 33.20
Men 4x100m Freestyle Team Relay: 1st NCSA A 3:24.54 2nd NCSA B 3:27.03 3rd NCSA C 3:31.05 4th Bangor 3:32.54
Women 4x100m Freestyle Team Relay: 1st NCSA 3:45 49 2nd NCSA 3:49.84 3rd NCSA 3:51.86
Qualification Times Met (selection of athletes for all events (except European Games) will be made at a later date)
European Games, 23rd – 27th June 2015, Baku, Azerbaijan (Final Selection made on 23/04/15)
Natasha MacManus (Diving) Rory McEvoy, Rachel Bethel, Mona McSharry, Iseult Hayes, Danielle Hill, Niamh Kilgallen, Emma Reid, Andrew Moore, James Brown, Alan Corby, Benjamin Doyle, Katie Baguley
World University Games, 4th – 11th July 2015, Gwangju, South Korea
Qualifiers: Sycerika McMahon, Fiona Doyle, Christopher Bryan, Jordan Sloan, Shauna O’Brien, Alex Murphy, Grainne Murphy, Dan Sweeney, Nicholas Quinn.
European Youth Olympic Festival, 26th July – 1st August 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia
Qualifiers: Antoinette Neamt, Niamh Coyne, Ellen Walsh, Rebecca Reid, Conor Ferguson, Emma Moloney.
FINA World Swimming & Open Water Championships, 25th July – 9th August 2015, Kazan, Russia
Qualifiers: Sycerika McMahon, Fiona Doyle, Christopher Bryan.
Today’s Qualifiers: Alex Murphy (50m Breaststroke)
World Junior Swimming Championships, 25th – 30th August 2015, Singapore
Qualifiers: Conor Ferguson, Antoinette Neamt, Rachel Bethel.
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