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Darragh Grene: Photo Courtesy: Swim Ireland<\/p><\/div>\n

Greene – who set an Irish record of 59.76 over 100m breaststroke on the first day – took the 200m following a real tussle with Eoin Corby<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Greene has already been inside the cut of 2:10.35 and he touched in 2:10.40 with 19-year-old Corby – who on Friday dropped his PB from 2:13.24 to 2:10.99 – second in 2:10.50, 0.15 outside the qualification time.<\/p>\n

McSharry twice lowered her Irish 100br record on the opening day with her semi-final time of 1:06.29 catapulting her into the world’s top 10.<\/p>\n

A new mark of 2:25.92 over 200m followed on Friday morning<\/a> to the frustration of the University of Tennessee swimmer who was 0.04 outside the qualification standard.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old went 2:27 in the evening semis with Niamh Coyne<\/strong> the fastest through to set up a prospect of a real tussle.<\/p>\n

McSharry, however, withdrew from the final leaving Coyne to claim an emphatic victory in 2:27.45 – her second best time – but well outside the cut.<\/p>\n

National record holder Brendan Hyland<\/strong> won the 100m butterfly in 52.87 and admitted that he had to reset after the 200 fly where he was second to Paddy Johnston<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

He said:<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that 200 fly final, where the wheels fell off, I was pretty shook.<\/p>\n
“Ben (Higson, head coach) told me to just take it easy and try to gain my confidence back. I know people say it happens and all, but I haven\u2019t got run down like that in about 10 years. I didn\u2019t mind losing it, it was just how much the wheels came off.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re going fast, you dive in, and every single time you look at the board it\u2019s unbelievable. All of a sudden there\u2019s a snowball effect. Whereas when you have a bad swim, it does take a lot to try to get yourself back on the blocks to do a good job.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just pleased to take something out of the week. I\u2019m now hopefully on the (4×100 medley) relay for the European Championships and it is a strong relay. We\u2019ve got three or four weeks to get ready and fine-tune.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u00a0<\/em>Victoria Catterson<\/strong> went third Irish all-time in the women\u2019s 200 free.<\/p>\n
The Ards swimmer, who broke the 100m freestyle record on Thursday before Danielle Hill<\/strong> reclaimed her national mark, came close to breaking two minutes in 2:00.15.<\/p>\n
Catterson said:<\/p>\n
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“I was expecting to go quicker than last night, but more like low 2:01, so to turn around and see that it was that close was bittersweet, because 1:59 and maybe an Irish senior record just would have been the perfect ending to the week.<\/p>\n
“But that swim has given me the confidence to believe that I am a sub-2:00 freestyler. These performances, they\u2019ve been a long time coming.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019d definitely say I\u2019ve really taken advantage of the situation we have been put in. I realise that I am very, very lucky to be in the pool, and obviously there\u2019s not a lot of people in the pool.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s very specialised training groups, only like 10 people. So, we get a lot of time from our coach, and gym time, and there\u2019s been less distractions, like going out with friends to restaurants and stuff like that.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Hill has rewritten the Irish record books four times this past five days and after setting a new 50 free mark of 25.19 on Friday, she went 25.29 on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Just 0.2 separated the top five finishers in the men’s 100 free.<\/p>\n
Dolphin\u2019s Max McCusker<\/strong> took the win in 49.51 over Bangor\u2019s Jack McMillan<\/strong> in 49.58 and Shane Ryan<\/strong> 49.64.<\/p>\n
In the 400IM Templeogue\u2019s Ellen Walshe<\/strong> won the women\u2019s final in 4:48.99 knocking almost two seconds off her previous best of 4:50.78.<\/p>\n
National Centre Limerick\u2019s Cadan McCarthy<\/strong> knocked over three seconds off his best time to win the men\u2019s final in 4:25.80.<\/p>\n
In the final event of the trials, Trojan\u2019s Grace Hodgins<\/strong> added the 1500m free title to the 800m in 17:47.37.<\/p>\n
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Jon Rudd – Photo Courtesy: Jon Rudd<\/p><\/div>\n
Speaking after the five days of racing Swim Ireland National Performance director Jon Rudd<\/strong> said:<\/p>\n
“With five excellent days of racing at the Irish National Team Trials under our belt, we can reflect on another significant and positive step forwards for Irish swimming, across a number of areas with much to be pleased with.<\/p>\n
“To have five FINA ‘A’ Olympic Qualifying times achieved at this stage from four athletes is a good place to be at this time, with two stages of our Olympic nomination process still to come.<\/p>\n
“There have been some agonising near misses across the five days and those fine margins are the very essence of performance sport.<\/p>\n
“Twelve Irish senior records have also been broken this week, another indicator that the nation continues to evolve.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe set stiff consideration standards for our relays to compete at the forthcoming European Championships in Budapest (in an attempt to qualify for the Olympic Games) and we now have five such relays that can be considered for selection to this event.<\/p>\n
“There were 10 athletes over the course of the week that were close enough to the FINA ‘A’ time for them to go again in a final qualification attempt in June and we are already working on what this may look like in a challenging COVID environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am delighted that the event itself has run so successfully in such highly demanding and difficult times.<\/p>\n
“Athletes and coaches have not had it easy over the last 13 months and the performances this week are testament to their resilience and their dedication.<\/p>\n
“The job is not yet done for Tokyo – but the foundations are set”.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Consideration Times Achieved<\/strong><\/p>\n
(Team Selections will be made at a later date)<\/p>\n
Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games, Tokyo, Japan, 23^{rd<\/sup>\u00a0July \u2013 8^{th<\/sup>\u00a0August 2011<\/strong><\/p>\n}}
Darragh Greene (100m Breaststroke, 200m Breaststroke), Shane Ryan (100m Backstroke), Daniel Wiffen (800m Freestyle), Mona McSharry (100m Breaststroke)<\/p>\n
Tokyo 2021 Paralympic Games, Tokyo, Japan, 24^{th<\/sup>\u00a0August \u2013 5^{th<\/sup>\u00a0September 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n}}
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),\u00a0R\u00f3is\u00edn N\u00ed R\u00edain (100m Backstroke, 50m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle, 100m Butterfly, 200m IM)<\/p>\n
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