Shane Ryan advanced to the final of the men's 100 metres backstroke at the European Swimming Championships in London, but only just.
Twenty-two-year-old Ryan sneaked into Tuesday's decider in eighth and last place, having finished fifth in his semi-final in 54.39 seconds, a slower time than his morning heat swim where he registered 54.21 seconds, his first official Irish record for the event.
That time placed him third of the 16 semi-final qualifiers
Ryan denied Poland’s Tomas Polewka a place in the last eight by 0.26 of a second.
If Ryan is to win a medal, he will have to do it from the outside lane and will almost certainly have to break another Irish record in the process, a tall order from the outside.
Greece’s Apostolos Christou (53.36) is the fastest qualifier into the final ahead of the Russian Grigory Tatasevich and Italian Simone Sabbioni.
There was disappointment for 16-year-old Conor Ferguson in the same event as his semi-final time of 54.99 seconds, was 0.63 of a second outside the Olympic qualifying A standard for the event.
The time was only good enough for 13th overall, but Ferguson was more disappointed with not making the Rio games, rather than advancing to the final in London.
Earlier Nicholas Quinn, Dan Sweeney and Alex Murphy all failed to emerge from the heats of the 100m Breaststroke heats.
Murphy who swims with the UCD club, was just half a second off the Olympic qualification time earlier this year but his desire to make the Rio games were quashed after a disappointing swim in this morning’s heats when he registered a time of 62.15 seconds, a second and a half outside the time required.
Quinn and Sweeney will go in their main event, the 200 Breaststroke on Wednesday. Quinn has already qualified for Rio in the 200 and is confident of at least making the semis in London this week in that event.
Brendan Hyland put in a fast 24.68 seconds swim in the 50m Butterfly heats on the opening day as he gears up for his main event, the 200m Fly on Wednesday, while Danielle Hill looked forlorn after a disappointing swim in the heats in the 200m Backstroke in a time that was well off her Irish junior record.
There are four Irish swimmers in action on day two in London as Jordan Sloan goes in the men's 200m freestyle, while Fiona Doyle Mona McSharry and Sycerika McMahon compete in the women's 100m Breaststroke heats
