Daniel Wiffen broke his own Irish 1500m freestyle record to close out the Irish National Team Trials in Dublin, bringing the total Irish records to 12 over five days of action.
The meet also saw four Olympic Consideration Times (OCT) from Wiffen, Darragh Greene, Mona McSharry and Shane Ryan.
19-year-old Wiffen of Larne SC and Loughborough University took two seconds off his previous best of 15:19.04 to touch in 15:16.90.
In the men's 200m breaststroke Darragh Greene took the win in 2:10.40 in an epic race with Eoin Corby. Greene, of National Centre Dublin, who has already been under the OCT of 2:10.35, touched in 2:10.40 as Corby came agonisingly close finishing second in 2:10.50.
19-year-old Corby who swims at National Centre Limerick, needs to make up .15 between now and the next qualification opportunity in June in order to qualify for the Games.
Niamh Coyne won the women’s 200m breaststroke final in her second-best time ever 2:27.45. The National Centre Dublin swimmer has come close to OCT in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke events this week, swimming best times in both, and will look forward with confidence to another opportunity at achieving the times in June.
Victoria Catterson capped off a fantastic week to go number three all time in the women’s 200m Freestyle in Ireland. The Ards swimmer, who broke the 100m Freestyle record on Thursday, came close to breaking the two-minute mark touching in 2:00.15, and certainly stands out as one to watch in the future.
In the women's 50m freestyle Danielle Hill took the honours and was exactly on the Irish senior record that she held up to yesterday. Hill clocked 25.29, just one tenth of a second off the new Irish Record she set last night of 25.19. The Larne swimmer has had an impressive week, breaking four Irish records (50m, 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke (twice)).
National Centre Dublin’s Brendan Hyland impressed in the 100m Butterfly with a time of 52.87 to take the win over Ards’ Paddy Johnston. 19-year-old Johnston has had a great week, winning the 200m butterfly final and swimming a best time in the 100m closing in 53.32.
In an exciting men's 100m freestyle final just two tenths of a second separated the top five finishers. Dolphin’s Max McCusker took the win in 49.51 over Bangor’s Jack McMillan in 49.58 and National Centre Dublin’s Shane Ryan 49.64.
In the 400m individual medley, Templeogue’s Ellen Walshe won the women’s final in 4:48.99 knocking almost two seconds off her previous best of 4:50.78. National Centre Limerick’s Cadan McCarthy knocked over three seconds off his best time to win the men’s final in 4:25.80.
In the final event of the trials Trojan’s Grace Hodgins added a win in the 1500m freestyle to the 800m freestyle earlier in the week. In a tight finish Hodgins held off National Centre Limerick’s Ella Carroll (17:47.89) in 17:47.37.
