Danielle Hill has qualified in a second discipline at the upcoming Paris Olympics, the womens 50 metres freestyle, winning the A final at the Irish Open and Olympic swimming Trials on the penultimate day of competition at the NAC in Dublin.
Hill had already qualified in the 100 metres backstroke earlier this week and in the one length 50 free A Final, the 24-year-old set her second Irish record of the day with a winning time of 24.68 seconds going under the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT) of 24.70 seconds by just two hundredths of a second
In the morning heats Hill had cemented her status as Ireland's fastest ever female swimmer as she stopped the clock on 24.95, dipping under the 25-second mark for the first time and setting a new Irish and Championship Record. Hill’s previous best was 25.15 set in 2022.
In the A final Hill took just the one breath in the race they call the "Splash and Dash" and did just enough to add the 50 Freestyle to the 100 backstroke as the Larne swimmer heads to an Olympic games for the second time
"I am absolutely over the moon, I’m not quite as emotional as day one," said Hill.
"I had a little bit more fun tonight with that, there was a massive crowd down to see me so I couldn’t disappoint them.
'I just had a bit of fun and swam without stress or pressure and I think that’s what made the difference.'
Ellen Walsh, who has qualified for Paris in the women’s 200 metres individual medley before the NAC meet, just missed the OQT for the 100 butterfly as her winning time of 58.02 seconds was just point 10 of a second outside the standard.
The 23-year-old Templeogue swimmer will attempt to make the 400 individual medley OQT on Sunday where there are 16 Super finals down for decision
Shane Ryan brought down his 2018 100m Freestyle Irish Senior Record swimming an impressive 48.55 in this morning’s heat,
The National Centre (Dublin) swimmer secured top seed for the A Final later in a European Championships Consideration Time but despite lowering the Irish record for the second time today his 48.49 seconds is shy of the OQT of 48.34.
Ryan will have a final opportunity in the Super final on Sunday.
Roared on earlier by what seemed as all of his extended Galway family, 17-year-old John Shortt once again narrowly missed out on qualification for the Olympics winning the mens 200 metre’s backstroke in 1.58.38 almost three quarters of a second outside the OQT.
Nathan Wiffen was fastest in the mens 1500 Freestyle Heats, as the Loughborough swimmer looked comfortable in a modest time of 16:35.80.
Wiffen heads into tomorrow evenings final as fastest qualifier with his sights set on the Olympic Qualification Time (OQT) of 15:00.99, hoping join hie twin brother Daniel, the world champion, in the long distance event in Paris.
Sunday will be the final day of action with the finals at 4.30pm where sixteen national champions will be crowned in the Men and Women’s 50m Backstroke, 400m Individual Medley, 200m Breaststroke, 50m Breaststroke, 50m Butterfly, the Women’s 50m, 200m and 800m Freestyle and the Men’s 100m and 1500m Freestyle and 200m Butterfly.
