Ireland's Barry Murphy reaches 50m Butterfly semi-finals at the World Short Course Swimming Championships

By John Kenny

Ireland’s Barry Murphy has qualified for the semi-finals in the 50m Butterfly heats at the World Short Course Swimming Championships in Istanbul.

Murphy swam a new Irish senior record of 23.52 seconds on his way to qualification.

He had set the previous record of 23.57 in the semi-final at the European Championships just three weeks ago as he finished 15th overall.

Swimming in Heat 14, Murphy was up against Olympic 200m Butterfly Gold Medallist Chad Le Clos as well as Brazil’s Nicholas Santos

Santos set a new Championship record of 22.40 in this morning’s event.

Murphy finished sixth in the heat to qualify for his first World Short Course semi-final.

The 50m Butterfly semi-final will take place at 5:14pm Irish time.