GRAINNE MURPHY WAS nine hundredths of a second away from breaking Michelle DeBruin’s long-standing in the 200m freestyle.
The Wexford swimmer clocked a time of 2 minutes, 0.02 seconds as she sailed to victory at the Irish National swimming and Olympic trials at the NAC last night.
The time was still outside of the Olympic qualifying standard (OQT), but it is enough to propel Murphy to European Championships in Hungary, which begin in May.
Murphy has already achieved the required qualifying standard for the 800 meter event and that distance will be one of her next events when she turns out at the Olympic venue in London for the British trials.
Along with the 200 and 800, the 18-year-old will also swim the 400 meter individual events, both medley and freestyle.
Other Olympic hopefuls will remain at the Blanchardstown venue for the coming days in the hope of achieving their own A-standard.
Melanie Nocher, in the 200 meter backstroke, also qualified for the European championships. She will hope that yesterday’s winning time of 1 minute, 2.19 seconds can translate into a qualifying time in the longer event – pinned at 2 minutes, 10.84 seconds.
Meanwhile, 16-year-old Sycerika McMahon greatly impressed at the meet.
McMahon finished second to Murphy in the 200 meter freestyle and today will turn her attention to her strongest event: the 100m breaststroke, where the OQT is 1 minute, 8.49 seconds.
Yesterday also seen the five Irish hopefuls qualify for the European Junior Championships. Sarah Kelly and David O’Sullivan in the 200 meter butterfly, Conor Turner and Brendan Gibbons in the 1500 meters and Jane Roberts, 100 meter backstroke.
The Irish National swimming and Olympic trials will enter their second day in Blanchardstown today with the highlights including the 50 meter, 100 meter backstroke and 400 meter medley finals for both men and women.
