It's a beautiful day here in Paris, a marked contrast to Friday and Saturday last when the rain was unforgiving. And there definitely was a sense that all is well in the world for the Irish contingent after the morning session in the pool.
Ellen Walshe and Daniel Wiffen are through to their respective finals, while Danielle Hill has a semi-final to look forward to. Their progression forward played at a La Defense Arena that didn't quite have the high-voltage atmosphere that was in evidence on Sunday. Morning sessions, with heats and semis, don't quite have that same adrenaline-rush.
In the press room, Irish scribes were in contented mood as they pieced together their thoughts on three Team Ireland competitors progressing within a short period of each other. All told, there are 6,000 media professionals at the Paris Games, all of them hoping to report on good news stories. And for the Irish journos, there is much to ponder with a trio of finalists in the pool.
There's a cautious optimism around Mona McSharry, in that if can she deliver that littler bit more, a medal could be hers. As for Wiffen, the view amongst those assembled was that he is some sort of express train, heading towards gold. Optimism that is justified on the back of his world titles in February and the ease by which he won this morning.
"But don't rule out Bobby Finke", was the assessment of Swimming Ireland's press officer Trish Mayon, still believing that the reigning Olympic champion despite being over a second slower than Wiffen in his heat, still has something left in the tank. Finke's time in the heat was five seconds slower than his best.
So finals are a different ball game then? Maybe not, if you're Daniel Wiffen. He thinks the stars are aligning. The county that he identifies with most had a lot to celebrate on Sunday.
He told the media huddle at the La Defence: "Yeah, Armagh won. My birthday is on July 14th, Bastille Day. What is it, 100 years since Ireland competed in Paris. It just seems everything is aligning, doesn't it?"
It also would seem that any podium finish will do for the 23-year-old, in spite of his winning time in the heats - 7:41.53 - being just 0.4 seconds off the Olympic record set in 2021 by Ukraine's Mykhailo Romanchuk
"Any medal is good, it's my first race here, it’s my first time being in contention for an Olympic medal so I’ll take any medal, whatever colour, and then we got another two races after this and I’m looking forward to the one in the Seine (Open Water), especially."
Each night at the swimming will require a special ticket for some journalists to attend. An app has to be downloaded to ensure you get a seat. We could have three or four nights of finals to come where Irish are involved. And then there's Daniel's assignment on the River Seine come Friday week. Following that 10km trek should be fun.
In a few hours, Mona McSharry hits the pool in the 100m breaststroke final; a second Olympic final for the Sligo competitor. Before that Ellen Walshe goes in the 400m IM final.
A first swimming medal for Ireland since 1996 and a first male medallist at an Olympics are sure to be part of the introductory pars that will be filed by journalists if things work out the way we hope in the next few days.
More contented scribes then in the press room!
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