November 02, 2021

Grace Hodgins on Wednesday morning made a perfect start to her international career when setting a big personal best in the 800m Freestyle heats at the LEN European Short Course Swimming Championships in Kazan, Russia.

The 16-year-old from Trojan Swimming Club in Dublin last competed in a major short course (25m pool) competition in December 2019, setting a new personal best of 8:59.00 that day.

Having significantly lowered her 800m Freestyle time in long course (50m pool) competition already this summer, she has now built on that in Kazan, setting a new short course best time of 8:55.71.

The performance, her first swimming for Ireland, earned her 19th overall. She will return to action at the Aquatic Palace on Thursday morning for the 1500m Freestyle heats, where her time to beat will be 17:20.10.

Ireland's busiest swimmer at the European Championships, Molly Mayne, was also in action on Wednesday, posting 1:08.03 to finish fourth in her heat and 33rd overall in a stacked 100m Breaststroke field.

The 16-year-old comes into these championships having set six short course personal best times at the FINA Swimming World Cup in Doha, Qatar, and is entered in six events once again.

Mayne was just 0.1 second off Mona McSharry's 50m Breaststroke junior record in Doha, and 0.09 seconds off her 200m Breaststroke junior record.

These events are again on her schedule, with her next event, 100m Individual Medley, beginning on Wednesday morning, when National Centre Limerick's Eoin Corby begins his Kazan campaign in 100m Breaststroke.

He holds the Irish Junior Record at 58.38 in this event, but now aged 19, he'll be looking to get closer to Alex Murphy's Irish Senior Record of 57.69.

LEN European Short Course Swimming Championships 2021

Irish Team

Eoin Corby, 19, National Centre Limerick

Events: 50m, 100m, 200m Breaststroke, 100m Individual Medley

Grace Hodgins, 16, Trojan Swimming Club

Events: 800m, 1500m Freestyle

Molly Mayne, 16, Hamilton Aquatics

Events: 50m, 100m, 200m Breaststroke, 50m Butterfly, 100m, 200m Individual Medley

Team Leader: National Centre Limerick Head Coach John Szaranek

Assistant Coach: Trojan Swimming Club Coach Jonathan Preston

Live Results: kazan2021.microplustiming.com

Track Records: Irish National Short Course Records (Updated Sep 20, 2021)