SWIM IRELAND PERFORMANCE director Jon Rudd is excited to see how his squad of 14 swimmers and divers fare against world class oppositions at this weekend’s European Championships.
Ireland will send an 11-strong swim team and a ‘small but talented group’ of three divers to the LEN Championships in Glasgow, with swim heats under way from Friday morning.
Shane Ryan, who earned a place in the 100m backstroke semi-finals at Rio 2016, leads the team to the pool where he will begin a busy weekend with the 50m backstroke heats (10.30, Friday).
A University Games champion in the discipline, Ryan will be joined on the starter’s list by 18-year-old Conor Ferguson, competing at his first senior Europeans after swimming at World Championship level last year.
Irish record holder Darragh Greene and Alex Murphy will be next up in the 100m breaststroke heats (10.53) before Ryan is joined by Jordan Sloan, David Thompson and Robbie Powell for the men’s 4 x 100m freestyle relay heats (11.22).
Mona McSharry will be the first Irish woman in the water when she competes in the 100m breaststroke heats on Saturday morning (9.52), while Niamh Kilgallen will have to wait until Tuesday for the 200m individual medley to get under way.
Three Irish divers will begin competition on Tuesday from 09.30 when Oliver Dingley and Jack French are on the 1m springboard. Tanya Watson will climb to the 10m platform on Wednesday morning.
“With the European Championships almost upon us we are very excited to see how this team will feature amongst some of the best swimmers in the world, particularly as our team is a mixture of youth and experience,” says national performance director Rudd.
“It’s only 20 months to our Olympic trials and our swimmers must be preparing themselves now, physically and mentally for that.”
In addition to preparing for Olympic trials, Ireland’s swimmers can take a big step towards earning their place on Team Ireland for next year’s World Championships in South Korea. ‘Pre-validated’ status is available to swimmers if they can meet the consideration times set out across the disciplines.
Team Ireland for 2018 LEN Championships (and their first event)
Shane Ryan (50m backstroke, Friday)
Conor Ferguson (50m backstroke, Friday)
Darragh Greene (100m breaststroke, Friday)
Alex Murphy (100m breaststroke, Friday)
Jordan Sloan (4 x 100m freestyle relay, Friday)
David Thompson (4 x 100m freestyle relay, Friday)
Robbie Powell (4 x 100m freestyle relay, Friday)
Mona McSharry (1oom breaststroke, Saturday)
Brendan Hyland (200m butterfly, Saturday)
Calum Bain (50m butterfly, Monday)
Niamh Kilgallen (200m individual medley, Tuesday)
Oliver Dingley (1m springboard, Tuesday)
Jack French (1m springboard, Tuesday)
Tanya Watson (10m platform, Wednesday)
See the full schedule European Championship schedule here
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