Murphy breaks Irish 800m Freestyle record

By John Kenny

Grainne Murphy broke her own Irish senior record when she finished third in the 800m Freestyle at the Duel In the Pool in Atlanta, as the USA hammered the European squad by 181.5 points to 80.5.

The race was won by Denmark's Lotte Friis in a time of 8:04.77, with American Chloe Sutton in second, but Murphy's third place finish picked up a point for Europe and her time of 8 minutes 18.03 seconds cut over 1.42 seconds off the old time set at the European Championships in Poland last weekend.

The Americans won 22 of the 30 events and have never lost in five appearances at Duel in the Pool, beating Australia three times and Europe in the last two.

This year's meet was at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, site of the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Meanwhile, 16-year-old Sycerika Mc Mahon won three more titles to add to the three she won yesterday on day two of the National Shprt Course Swimming championships in Lisburn.

McMahon won the 50m Breastroke (31.91), the 400m Freestyle (4:13.42) and the 100m Individual medley (1.02.63), while London Olympics-bound Barry Murphy took his fifth title of the weekend when he won the men's 100m Breastroke in a relatively slow time of 1:04.17.

Seventeen-year-old Curtis Coulter of Ards won the men's 100m freestyle in 50.53, after Murphy pulled out of the final.