Bree advances to semi-finals

Swimming:  Ireland's Andrew Bree is through to tonight's semi-final of the 100metres breaststroke at the European Short Course…

Swimming: Ireland's Andrew Bree is through to tonight's semi-final of the 100metres breaststroke at the European Short Course Swimming Championships in Debrecen, Hungary.

The Antrim swimmer was 14th of the 16 qualifiers after clocking a time of 1:00.05 in his heat.

Bree is currently the only Irish swimmer qualified for next year's Olympics in Beijing where he will swim the 200m breaststroke, his strongest discipline. This week he is also entered in the 50m and 300m breaststroke events.

Bree is joined in Hungary by Julie Douglas and Ashling Cooney with Douglas missing out on a place in the women's 100m freestyle semi-finals. Her time of 56.21seconds left her 35th overall and 1.08seconds off the pace. She will also race in Sunday's 200m freestyle heats.