The Swim Ireland National Team Trials have continued throughout the week in the National Aquatic Centre, there has been a number of excellent performances from the Para swimmers, all of whom returning to competitive swimming after a long absence.
On the back of a warm weather training camp, several of the Para swimmers returned to competitive swimming on Tuesday, which was Day One of the event, Patrick Flanagan was first up in the morning session, Patrick finished with a time of 1:27.94 in the 100m Backstroke. Patrick was followed by Ellen Keane and Nicole Turner in the 100m Breastroke, finishing in a time of 1:27.77 and 1:46.28 respectfully.
Amy Sheridan got Day Two off to a brilliant start, setting a Personal Best in the 100m Buttefly, with a time of 1:17.66. The final morning session of Day Two was the Men’s 100 Metre Para Freestyle, Barry McClements, Patrick Flanagan, Sean O’Riordan, and Jonathan McGrath all performed well. Particularly Ards’ man, Barry McClements, who broke the one minute mark for the first time with a time of 59.81.
The evening session saw Amy Sheridan return to the pool for the 100m Freestyle, joined by another young gun, Roisin Ni Riain. Roisin clocked a time of 1:02.59, with Amy finishing in 1:11.67, solid performances from both athletes, both who are one’s to watch in the years to come.
Day Three started with the Men returning for the 400m Para Freestyle, Sean O’Riordan put on a brilliant display, setting a new Personal Best with a time of 4:41.42. The evening session saw Barry McClements, Patrick Flanagan and Jonathan McGrath finish with a quicker time than the morning session, Jonathan recording a seasons best with a a time of 4:55.58.
The highlight of the day came was the Women’s 200 Metre Individual Medley, Nicole Turner was agonisingly close to her Personal Best by just .01 seconds, posting a time of 3:09.04, another excellent performance with her main event taking place on Saturday. Ellen Keane ended her week in style, hitting a Personal Best 2:39.36 in the 200 IM.
Following a number of fantastic displays in Italy from Roisin Ni Riain, hitting the Minimum Qualifying Standard time for Tokyo 2020 in four events, the Limerick swimmer did it again adding a fifth event, the 200 Individual Medley. Roisin finished in a time of 2:35.34, officially hitting a Minimum Qualifying Time for Tokyo. However, she was not finished there, as she recorded a Personal Best of 2:33.82 in the evening session, a brilliant few weeks for the young prospect.
Friday will see Nicole Turner and Roisin Ni Riain compete in the 50m Freestyle, followed by Barry McClements in the 100m Butterfly. Nicole Turner will return to the National Aquatic Centre on Saturday in the 50m Para Fly, Nicole will be hoping to finish the week with a strong performance in her main event.
You can watch the final stages of the Irish National Team Trials on the RTE Player from 10am.
More details of each event HERE
