LAST UPDATE | 19 Dec 2021
IRELAND’S SWIMMERS ENDED a 28-year wait for a place in a World Championship relay final on Sunday.
The men’s 4x200m freestyle relay team smashed the national record twice as they finished sixth at the short course (25m) championships in Abu Dhabi.
Jack McMillan, Robbie Powell, Finn McGeever and Jordan Sloan shaved a remarkable 21 seconds off the national record on Sunday morning to advance to the final.
Their time of 7:02.35 was the seventh Irish record posted at this meet and qualified an Irish team for a relay final for the first time since 1993.
The same quartet bettered that time again by nearly three seconds in the final, swimming a 6:59.54 to finish sixth.
The United States of America (6:47.00) took gold ahead of the Russian Swimming Federation (6:49.12) and Brazil (6:49.60).
“Everyone stepped it on just a bit from this morning,” Sloan said afterwards.
“You can’t really ask for anymore and getting under seven minutes is pretty cool.
“I thought it would be a push after this morning, because we were 7:02.3, but doing 6:59 is pretty good and we’ll just build from there for long course.”
Mona McSharry set yet another Irish senior record on Sunday afternoon as she qualified for her second final of the week in the 100m breaststroke.
McSharry’s time of 1:04.22 was her fifth record of the week, and the third fastest time overall ahead of the final which takes place tomorrow at 3.42pm Irish time.
“It wasn’t the best put-together race,” she said afterwards. “I think the first 25 wasn’t great and it was a bit all over the place from that point.
“Now, the time is not bad, that’s a good thing. I can improve on stuff and hopefully the time will drop again tomorrow.”
Danielle Hill improved her national record by more than a tenth of a second to 26.88 as she finished 14th in the 50m backstroke semis.
Niamh Coyne swam 1:06.44 in the 100m breaststroke heats – her first event at these championships. That left her in 18th place, with only the top 16 advancing, but it was a solid effort given that she found herself racing alone with two empty lanes beside her.
Calum Bain, who formed part of the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay team that set a new Irish record on Thursday, finished his first World Championships with a lifetime best in the 50m butterfly, shaving 0.13 off his previous best by touching in 23.46 to finish 34th overall.
– Additional reporting by Niall Kelly
