Shauna O’Brien Breaks Butterfly Record as Irish Swimmers Make International Qualification Times
Irish records fell on the second day of competition at the Dave McCullagh/Swim Ulster International at the Bangor Aurora in Down as a number of swimmers secured qualification times for this Summers international meets.
Shauna O’Brien set a new Irish Senior Record in the Women’s 50m Butterfly Final. The UCD swimmer broke the previous record of 27.33 held by Melanie Houghton since 2014 in 27.10 seconds to claim gold, her time was under the qualification for the World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea. O’Brien’s UCD team mate Alex Murphy won the Men’s 50m Butterfly Final in 24.85 seconds. The 19 year old held off Loughborough’s Leo Jaggs (25.07) and Calum Bain of Ards (25.28).
Following his 50m Backstroke Irish Junior Record on Friday, Conor Ferguson broke the 100m Backstroke Record twice on Saturday. The 15 year old Larne swimmer posted a morning swim of 56.46 breaking Karl Burdis’ 2008 record and made the qualification time for the European Youth Olympic Games (EYOF), he then went on to win gold in another record time of 56.36. Rory McEvoy (57.58), finishing in second place met the qualification time for the European Games in Baku in June. Natasha Hofton (University of Stirling) won the women’s event in 1:02.88 while Larne’s Danielle Hill went under the European Games qualification time for the second time today taking silver in 1:04.76.
Bangor’s Jordan Sloan joined Shauna O’Brien in going under the qualification time for the World University Games. The University of Ulster, Jordanstown student won the 200m Freestyle in 1:49.63 having posted a heat swim of 1:49.26. Bethany Carson won the women’s event in 2:03.09 while Rebecca Reid, who finished second in 2:03.38, posted a European Games qualification time.
Ross Murdoch and Nicholas Quinn had the crowd on their feet in a very close 200m Breaststroke Final. It came down to a fingernail as Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist Murdoch got the touch just two tenths of a second ahead of Quinn (2:14.73) in 2:14.46. Marlins SC Mona McSharry hit the qualification time for the European Games finishing third in the Women’s 200m Breaststroke Final in a time of 2:36.31, the event was won by University of Edinburgh’s Olivia White in 2:31.22.
In another tight race Galway’s Andrew Moore hit the wall ahead of James Brown of Ards in the 400m Individual Medley Final. Moore’s time of 4:33.65 was just .18 of a second ahead of Brown in 4:33.83. Aer Lingus’ Benjamin Doyle claimed bronze in 4:35.85.
Swim Ireland NAC Performance Centre swimmer Antoinette Neamt cruised to 800m Freestyle gold in 8 minutes 51.70 seconds with 20 seconds to spare over Scotland’s Eilidh Duthie (9:11.91) in second. Neamts time was 30 seconds inside the European Youth Olympic Games qualification time of 9:21.92.
In the night’s final event Bangor men won the 4x200m Freestyle Relay in 7:55.30 while Ards women won the 4x100m Relay in 3:56.84.
At the Irish Masters Championships taking pace in Limerick this weekend Ennis SC Swimmer Norma Cahill has broken both the 800m and 1500m 50-54 Age Group European Records. In last night’s 1,500m Freestyle Cahill broke the 800m Record swimming 10:04.64 and the 1500m in 19:03.05. Today she broke the 800m record for the second time dipping below the 10 minute mark in 9:59.85.
Full Results Day 2
Men 50m Butterfly Final: 1st A Murphy UCD 24.85 24.85 2nd L Jaggs Loughborough 25.07 3rd C Bain Cookstown 25.28
Women 50m Butterfly Final: 1st S O’Brien UCD 27.10 ISR 2nd R Matos Edinburgh University 27.66 3rd B Firth Ards 28.02
Men 200m Freestyle Final: 1st J Sloan Bangor 1:49.63 2nd M Parks Edinburgh University 1:53.22 3rd J Scott Uni of Stirling 1:53.25
Women 200m Freestyle Final: 1st B Carson Lisburn 2:03.09 2nd R Bethel Lisburn 2:03.38 3rd H Monteith Edinburgh University 2:04.53
Men 100m Backstroke Final: 1st C Ferguson Larne 56.36 IJR 2nd R McEvoy Ennis 57.58 3rd D Prendergast UCD 58.04
Women 100m Backstroke Final: 1st N Hofton Uni of Stirling 1:02.88 2nd D Hill Larne 1:04.76 3rd E Cassidy Sundays Well 1:04.91
Men 200m Breaststroke Final: 1st R Murdoch Uni of Stirling 2:14.46 2nd N Quinn Castlebar 2:14.75 3rd D Sweeney Sundays Well 2:17.76
Women 200m Breaststroke Final: 1st O White Edinburgh University 2:31.22 2nd E Jones Edinburgh University 2:35.03 3rd M McSharry Marlins 2:36.31
Men 400m IM Final: 1st A Moore Galway 4:33.65 2nd J Brown Ards 4:33.83 3rd B Doyle Aer Lingus 4:35.85
Women 800m Freestyle Final: 1st A Neamt Tallaght 8:51.70 2nd E Duthie Scotland 9:11.91 3rd S Hickey Limerick 9:15.70
Men 4x200m Freestyle Team Relay: 1st Bangor 7:55.30 2nd Ards 8:01.81 3rd Limerick 8:11.88
Women 4x100m Freestyle Team Relay: 1st Ards 3:56.84 2nd Sundays Well 4:02.17 3rd Aer Lingus 4:05.45
Qualification Times Met (selection of athletes for all events will be made at a later date)
European Olympic Games, 23rd – 27th June 2015, Baku, Azerbaijan
Today’s Qualifiers: Danielle Hill (100m Backstroke), Rachel Bethel (200m Freestyle), Rory McEvoy (100m Backstroke), Mona McSharry (200m Breaststroke)
World University Games, 4th – 11th July 2015, Gwangju, South Korea
Today’s Qualifiers: Jordan Sloan (200m Freestyle), Shauna O’Brien (50m Butterfly)
Qualifiers: Sycerika McMahon, Fiona Doyle, Christopher Bryan (10K Open Water)
European Youth Olympic Festival, 26th July – 1st August 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia
Today’s Qualifiers: Conor Ferguson (100m Backstroke), Emma Moloney (200m Breaststroke)
Qualifiers: Antoinette Neamt (200m Butterfly, 800m Freestyle), Niamh Coyne (100m Breaststroke, 200m Breaststroke), Ellen Walsh (200m Butterfly), Rebecca Reid (400m IM),
FINA World Swimming & Open Water Championships, 25th July – 9th August 2015, Kazan, Russia
Qualifiers: Sycerika McMahon (50m Breaststroke), Fiona Doyle (50m, 100m, 200m Breaststroke), Christopher Bryan (10K Open Water)
World Junior Swimming Championships, 25th – 30th August 2015, Singapore
Today’s Qualifiers: Conor Ferguson (100m Backstroke)
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