Swimming:Ireland's Sycerika McMahon set a new national record when claiming bronze in the 50m Breaststroke at the European short course swimming championships in Chartres, France, today.
In three races from the heats, the 17-year-old set as many Irish records, culminating in a time of 30.34 seconds and a third-place finish behind Czech Republic’s Petra Chocova (30.02) and Rikke Pederson (30.25) of Denmark.
Her time in the heats (30.88), when finishing third fastest, cut half a second off Fiona Doyle’s previous Irish record, before she improved to 30.56 in the semi-final. She bettered that again in the final to add bronze to the European long course silver she won in the same event in May.
After receiving her medal, the London Olympian helped Ireland to eighth in the women’s 4x50m Freestyle relay, in a time of 1:46.95, with Jane Roberts, Shani Stallard and Clodagh Flood.
Denmark took gold in 1:38.10.
“All of the swimmers have performed very well today, we are all delighted with Sycerika’s medal, she has worked extremely hard since the Games,” Swim Ireland’s performance director Peter Banks said.
McMahon will race in the 100m Individual Medley and the 200m Breaststroke tomorrow.