MAYO’S NICHOLAS QUINN excelled in the second half of his 200m breastroke heat in Rio today as he claimed first place, but it was not enough to reach the semi-finals.
The 23-year-old was second at the half-way point, but overtook home favourite Tates Cerdeira and beat Switzerland’s Tannick Keyser to the wall in 2:11.67.
Quinn was still in the top 16 before the final heat, but a searing pace set by Anton Chupkov set a new Russian record of 2:07.93 and helped edge Quinn down to 19th place.
“Mixed emotions with that,” Quinn told The42 after emerging from the pool.
“You want to come to the Olympics and swim a PB, but that’s so hard to do.So to come in here and win that heat, I felt I left everything in the pool, so I’m happy from that point of view.
“This whole year’s about leaving no stone unturned. So whatever happens now, whether I make it or not, I can hold my head up high.”
