TOM FANNON PRODUCED the swim of his career to date as he set a new Irish record to qualify for the 50m freestyle semi-finals at the Olympic Games in Paris.
Fannon, 26, clocked 21.79 seconds to win his heat at the La Defense Arena — taking three-hundredths of a second off Shane Ryan’s national record.
The time also lowered Fannon’s own personal best — set in May — by 0.15 seconds, and comfortably sees him through to this evening’s semi-finals as the sixth-fastest qualifier overall.
Australia’s Cameron McEvoy set the fastest qualifying time at 21.32 seconds ahead of the Cayman Islands’ Jordan Crooks (21.51).
USA’s Caleb Dressel (21.91) and home favourite Florent Manadou of France (21.54), gold and silver medallists in Tokyo three years ago, are also safely through to Thursday evening’s semis, which are scheduled to begin at 7.46pm.
Well done to Stephen for sharing his story, the mind is a powerful thing and the effects our thoughts can have on our body. I’m sure anorexia is more prevalent than we think with males and does not only affect females. Glad he has come out the other side and his life is going well now.
Immense inner strength to come through it all and hugely considerate and brave to share his journey in the hope of helping others.
Well done Stephen… You battled through and you’ll have a lifelong benefit from the struggle you’ve endured. Best of luck with the rest of your life and of course Round Towers (Lusk) too.
5 and a half stone is 35kg. Let’s say your an 18 year old and ur 83kg and u lose that much then you’re 48kg. Thats really unhealthy and if u don’t eat enough food then youll have no energy for exercise. Sounds awful
@Eoin Murphy:
Definitely a tough station.
His starting weight was 114kg & he lost 35kg to bring him down to 79kg which is very light for a man of his frame.
Some mental battle to win.
@Liam H: sorry i missed that part its a long article. There are some third years in the rugby who weigh more than without an ounce of fat