Greene 6th in World University Games Final; McSharry, Coyne and Ferguson Through to Semi-Finals at World Juniors
Irish swimming continued to ride the wave of success today with more outstanding performances from swimmers at World University Games in Taipei and World Junior Championships in Indianapolis.
Darragh Greene concluded Ireland’s individual events in the pool at the World University Games today with a fantastic 6th place finish in the 50m Breaststroke Final. Greene broke 28 seconds for the first time in yesterday’s heat swim in 27.87 seconds, the UCD student bettered that time to 27.85 in the semi-finals and knocked another .09 of a second off it in tonight’s final coming home in 27.76.
Belarus’ Ilya Shymanovich took gold in 27.39, Sweden’s Erik Skagius won silver in 27.49 while Germany’s Fabian Schwingenschloegl was third in 27.63 seconds.
Fresh from her Bronze medal win in the 50m Breaststroke at World Juniors last night Mona McSharry posted a time of 1:07.79 to progress to tonight’s 100m Breaststroke Semi-Final as top seed. Niamh Coyne had a drama filled morning as she finished tied in 16th place in 1:10.88 in the same event. Coyne went forward at the end of the session to a swim off against Belgium’s Anke Geeroms where she stormed to victory in 1:09.67, her first time under 1 minute 10 seconds. USA’s Zoe Bartel was the only other swimmer with McSharry under 1:08 in the heats today touching in 1:07.98 with 50m Breaststroke gold medallist Emily Weiss, also of USA, third in 1:08.30.
Last night’s 100m Backstroke silver medallist Conor Ferguson continued his fine form this morning too. The 17-year-old won his heat of the 50m Backstroke in 25.61 seconds to go into the semi-final in fourth place. USA’s Michael Andrew will be tonight’s top seed in the event after he set a new Championship and World Junior Record of 24.63 seconds.
Also in action at the World Junior Championships today, Athlone’s Robbie Powell took three tenths of a second off his best time to win his heat of the 50m Freestyle in 23.34 seconds while Ellen Walshe touched fourth in her 50m Butterfly heat in 28.23 seconds. At the World University Games Calum Bain matched his best time to win his 50m Freestyle heat in 22.78 seconds while Natasha MacManus scored 217.85 points in the preliminaries of the 3M Springboard for 26th overall.
Just one race remains at the World University Games tomorrow as Ireland’s Medley Relay take to the pool.
World Junior Championships
Day 3 Results
Friday 25th August
50m Butterfly Ellen Walshe H 28.23 (25th)
50m Backstroke Conor Ferguson H 25.61 (4th)
100m Breaststroke Mona McSharry H 1:07.79 (1st)
Niamh Coyne H 1:10.61 (16th) SO 1:09.67
50m Freestyle Robbie Powell H 23.34 (21st)
Day 3 Schedule Semi-Finals
Friday 25th August (11pm)
100m Breaststroke SF Mona McSharry, Niamh Coyne
50m Backstroke SF Conor Ferguson
World University Games
Day 6 Results
50m Breaststroke Darragh Greene H 27.87 (7th) SF 27.85 (8th) F 27.76 (6th)
50m Freestyle Calum Bain H 22.78 (22nd)
3M Springboard Natasha MacManus P 217.85 (26th)
Day 7 Schedule (Heats 2am/Finals 12pm)
400m Medley Relay Ireland
H – Heat/SF – Semi-Final/F – Final/P – Preliminary/ISR – Irish Senior Record/IJR – Irish Junior Record
WUG Results/Schedule: Click HERE (Heats 2am/Finals 12pm)
WJC Results/Schedule: Click HERE (Heats 2.30pm/Finals 11pm)
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