SYCERIKA MCMAHON ENDED her involvement in this year’s swimming world championships by finishing first in her freestyle 100 metre heat.
The Co Down athlete took over a tenth of a second off Claire Dawson’s 4-year-old Irish record in the process, touching the wall in 56.19 seconds.
Despite the record and heat win, McMahon did not do enough to advance to the semi-finals, ending up 34th in the world overall.
Following the meet in Barcelona, McMahon will have a short spell at home to put the finishing touches on her move to Texas A&M university.
“It was a really fun swim,” she said after exiting the championships. “Just to go out there and do the 100 Freestyle, not an event I’d usually swim, it felt good and I’m happy with the result – I hoped to do a personal best but I also got an Irish record out of it.”
Fiona Doyle was also in competition this morning, in the 200 metre breaststroke. Specialising over the shorter distances, Doyle’s 2:30.49 swim was just a quarter of a second outside of her own national record and left her outside the semi-finals, but with a place in the world’s top 20.
“20th is a lot better than I thought I would have been,” said the Limerick woman. “The 200 is a learning curve for me, I’m not really a fan of it, but I just have to go back and see what I can do to make my time faster. I think within the next year it’s definitely going to improve from where it is.”
Ireland’s swimmers will hit the water twice more before the championships finish on Sunday, with Doyle in her preferred discipline of 50 metre breaststroke on Saturday morning after Barry Murphy enters his last event, the 50 metre freestyle, tomorrow.
