Swimming:Ireland's Sycerika McMahon has won a gold medal at the European Junior Swimming Championships in Belgrade where she set a new Irish record in the 50m Breaststroke.
McMahon touched the wall ahead of a strong field in a time of 32.00seconds to better the record previously set by Emma Robinson in 2002. Hungarian Anna Sztankovics took second (32.02) with Finland’s Jenna Laukkanen third (32.11).
“A great start for Sycerika and the entire Irish team in Belgrade. This is what we were hoping for after her successes last year and congratulations to both her and her coach Bobby Madine,” said Peter Banks, Irish National Performance Director.
McMahon has also qualified for tomorrow’s final of the Women’s 200m Butterfly, having set a new personal best time of 2:15.22 in today’s semi-final. She will also compete in the 400m Freestyle where she is ranked first.
Nicholas Quinn (Castlebar SC) qualified from the Men’s 200m Breaststroke heats. And though he set a new personal best (2:19.31) in the semi-final he failed to make it into the final, finishing 13th. The Mayo native will take to the blocks in the heats of the 200m Individual Medley tomorrow morning.
The Irish Men’s team of Conor Turner, Luke Campbell, Nicholas Quinn and Philip Duffy set a new Irish Junior Record time in the 4x100m Freestyle event. Their 3:35.69 time left them 15th.
Aer Lingus SC swimmer Conor Turner swam strongly in the heats of the Men’s 400m Freestyle, finishing with a new personal best time of 4:04.99
Jane Roberts (Kilkenny SC) set a massive new personal best time in the heats of the 100m Freestyle, breaking the minute mark and taking almost three seconds off her best time to finish in 59.71. She also swam in the 200m Backstroke and finished just outside her personal best (2:23.99). Her next event is the 50m Backstroke on Friday morning.
Also in action on Day two will be Bangor SC swimmer Luke Campbell in the 100m Freestyle; Nicholas Quinn and Philip Duffy in the 200m Individual Medley and Conor Turner in the 1500m Freestyle.
Heats begin at 8am (Irish time) and semi-finals/finals start at 4pm.