7 Olympians Among Swim Ireland Team for World Swimming Championships

December 10, 2021

Seven of Ireland’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic swimmers will be among Swim Ireland’s 11-strong team competing this week at the 15th FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi.

Ireland’s swimming and diving team in Japan was the largest Irish aquatics team assembled for an Olympic Games since 1908, and it produced an historic first finalist in 25 years (Mona McSharry), as well as a first ever men’s relay team, and a first female competitor in diving (Tanya Watson).

Additionally, Jack McMillan, Mona McSharry, Shane Ryan and Daniel Wiffen set new Irish Senior Records in 200m Freestyle, 200m Breaststroke, 100m Butterfly and 800m and 1500m Freestyle.

Now seven of this team return to the world stage from Thursday, December 16 to Tuesday, December 21, Olympians Danielle Hill, Brendan Hyland, Finn McGeever, Ellen Walshe, McMillan, McSharry and Wiffen joined by Calum Bain, Niamh Coyne, Robert Powell and Jordan Sloan.

Jon Rudd, Swim Ireland’s National Performance Director, said: “The World Short Course Championships is always an exciting event and the culmination of the short course (25m pool) season on the swimming calendar, with this season usually recognised as the September to December period each year.

“This is an exciting team, which features most of our recent Tokyo Olympians, amongst others with strong hopes and ambitions for the Olympic cycle ahead.

“We have some very notable Irish short course racing results from these athletes at recent events in Ireland, England and the USA (in both 25 metre and 25 yard pools) and how these now transfer to a major Championships on a World stage will be very interesting to see.

“Unfortunately, Shane Ryan will not be part of the team this time whilst he recovers from a shoulder operation, something which we all agreed should take place well in advance of the 2022 summer benchmark meets, and we wish him all the very best for his rehabilitation programme in the weeks to come."

The FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships will be livestreamed by FINA. For more details visit fina.org.

You can follow Ireland’s progress in Abu Dhabi via Swim Ireland’s social media channels and via the livestreams and live timing listed at How to Follow Short Course Finales.