Shane Ryan, Nicholas Quinn, Brendan Hyland and Curtis Coulter set a new Irish record to book their place in the 400m Medley Relay European final.
A solid start in the backstroke from Ryan saw the team placed second after the first 100 metres.
Taking over on the breaststroke leg, Quinn swam 1:01.33 to sit fourth at the halfway mark. Hyland on butterfly and Coulter on freestyle then both swam best times of 53.40 and 48.99 respectively to hold off a determined Russia and remain fourth as they sealed their spot in this evening's final.
“We all knew going in this morning that we’d have to be on it to get back for a second swim, so that’s the main goal for this morning done," Quinn said afterwards.
"We’ll just get ready and see if we can get (the time) down even further."
Well done to @shaneryan001 @nickquinn23 @brenhyland94 & Curtis Coulter on a new Irish Seni… https://t.co/BMfmCppydl pic.twitter.com/x1xmN6fUVo
— Swim Ireland (@swimireland) May 22, 2016
The previous Irish record had stood at 3:39.87 from the World Championships of 2009 when Karl Burdis, Barry Murphy, Conor Leaney and Ryan Harrison combined in the heats.
Rio qualifiers Ryan and Quinn will return to the pool with Hyland and Coulter at 5.23pm as they attempt to qualify the relay for the 2016 Games.
They will need to swim under 3:36.00 to have a chance. “I think we need to go in and focus on our race,” added Quinn.
“There’s a few other teams that were fast this morning as well that are looking at those last spots, so we just need to get in and race our race. If each of us can take it down half a second then we’ll be there or thereabouts.”
