THE IRISH MEN’S 4x100m medley team rounded off a successful FINA World Swimming Championships in South Korea by breaking another national record.
Shane Ryan (Backstroke), Darragh Greene (Breaststroke), Brendan Hyland (Butterfly) and Jordan Sloan (Freestyle) finished in 14th place late on Saturday, just two places and .75 away from an automatic Olympic qualification place.
Their time of 3:35.86, which set a new Irish record, still leaves the quartet in contention with a further four places on offer to those teams in the top 16 in the World in May 2020.
“It’s really good, we couldn’t have asked for anymore really on the day, we stepped up, all swam hard out, so we’ll see what happens next year now,” said Greene.
“I’ve been in the form of my life (this week) but a little bit disappointing split in that,” added Hyland.
“But you do your best you can on the day. 14th is a good enough place to be and we’ll give it a good run next year.”
Jon Rudd, National Performance Director, said this year’s World Swimming Championships in Gwangju had demonstrated the rapid progress which Swim Ireland is enjoying ahead of next summer’s Games in Tokyo.
“There are so many positives that this Irish team and Swim Ireland can take away from this Championships,” he said.
“Three semi-finals at this level, with another two positions one place off a semi-final is a great outcome for us a year out of an Olympic Games.
“The times achieved by both Brendan Hyland and Darragh Greene at this meet are truly world class and testament to a home soil coaching programme delivering at the highest level.”
On breaking six Irish records in the space of eight days, Rudd added: “Our relays have been excellent, particularly our Men’s 800m Freestyle relay and 400m Medley relay and we must now plan carefully as to what we need to do to try and secure Olympic berths in these events for 2020.
“If we achieve that, another piece of Irish swimming history is written. I’m very proud of those that stepped onto this stage and truly delivered.”
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