Darragh Greene took 200m Breaststroke victory at the Irish Olympic National Team Trials posting 2:10.40 in an epic race with Eoin Corby.
Longford man Greene, of National Centre Dublin, who has already been under the Olympic Consideration Time (OCT) of 2:10.35, touched home in 2:10.40 as Corby came agonisingly close finishing second in 2:10.50.
19-year-old Corby who swims at National Centre Limerick, needs to make up .15 seconds between now and the next qualification opportunity in June in order to qualify for the Games.
Meanwhile Daniel Wiffen, who stunned the National Aquatic Centre on the opening morning of action with an OCT in the 800m Freestyle, broke his own Irish 1500m Freestyle Record
19-year-old Wiffen of Larne SC and Loughborough University took two seconds off his previous best of 15:19.04 to touch in 15:16.90.
This brought the total Irish Records to twelve over five days of action. The meet also saw four Olympic Consideration Times from Wiffen, Darragh Greene, Mona McSharry and Shane Ryan.
“I wanted to be out comfortable to 800, just under sub-eight minutes, but to be honest I think maybe in the middle of the race I was a bit tired, obviously from the building up of the competition - it’s been a long meet” said Wiffen.
“I’m still happy with the time, it’s a PB and I can’t ask for more than that” added Wiffen.
“I was obviously going for the FINA A time at the start of the week and it was good timing the 800m being the first event, because that’s when you’re most rested. I was delighted to get that and I’m looking forward to Tokyo.”
Niamh Coyne won the women’s 200m Breaststroke final in her second-best time ever 2:27.45.
The National Centre Dublin swimmer came close to Olympic consideration in both the 100m and 200m Breaststroke this week, swimming best times in both, and will look forward with confidence to another opportunity at achieving the times in June.
Victoria Catterson capped off a fantastic week to go number three all time in the women’s 200m Freestyle in Ireland.
The Ards swimmer, who broke the 100m Freestyle record on Thursday, came close to breaking the two-minute mark touching in 2:00.15, and certainly stands out as one to watch in the future.
In the women’s 50m Freestyle Danielle Hill took the honours and was exactly on the Irish Senior Record that she held up to yesterday.
Hill clocked 25.29, just one tenth of a second off the new Irish Record she set last night of 25.19. The Larne swimmer has had an impressive week, breaking four Irish records (50m, 100m Freestyle, 100m Backstroke (twice)).
National Centre Dublin’s Brendan Hyland impressed in the 100m Butterfly with a time of 52.87 to take the win over Ards’ Paddy Johnston.
19-year-old Johnston has had a great week, winning the 200m Butterfly Final and swimming a best time in the 100m closing in 53.32.
In an exciting Men’s 100m Freestyle Final just two tenths of a second separated the top five finishers. Dolphin’s Max McCusker took the win in 49.51 over Bangor’s Jack McMillan in 49.58 and National Centre Dublin’s Shane Ryan 49.64.
In the 400m Individual Medley Templeogue’s Ellen Walshe won the women’s final in 4:48.99 knocking almost two seconds off her previous best of 4:50.78. National Centre Limerick’s Cadan McCarthy knocked over three seconds off his best time to win the men’s final in 4:25.80.
In the final event of the trials Trojan’s Grace Hodgins added a win in the 1500m Freestyle to the 800m Freestyle earlier in the week. In a tight finish Hodgins held off National Centre Limerick’s Ella Carroll (17:47.89) in 17:47.37.
Next up for Irish swimmers will be the European Swimming Championships in Budapest, Hungary from May 17th – 23rd.
Irish divers will be in action from May 1st – 5th at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre at the FINA Diving World Cup.
The final Olympic Games qualification event will see four Irish divers in action; Oliver Dingley (3M Springboard), Clare Cryan (3M Springboard), Tanya Watson (Platform), Ciara McGing (Platform).
Consideration Times Achieved
(Team Selections will be made at a later date)
Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games, Tokyo, Japan, 23rd July – 8th August 2011
Darragh Greene (100m Breaststroke, 200m Breaststroke), Shane Ryan (100m Backstroke), Daniel Wiffen (800m Freestyle), Mona McSharry (100m Breaststroke)
Tokyo 2021 Paralympic Games, Tokyo, Japan, 24th August – 5th September 2021
Ellen Keane (100m Breaststroke, 200m Individual Medley, 100m Backstroke), Nicole Turner (50m Butterfly, 100m Breaststroke, 200m Individual Medley) Barry McClements (100m Butterfly, 400m Freestyle), Patrick Flanagan (400m Freestyle), Róisín Ní Ríain (100m Backstroke, 50m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle, 100m Butterfly, 200m IM)
