Swimming:Grainne Murphy brought her European Championships campaign to an end this morning as she failed to emerge from the 400 metres freestyle heats. The 1500m silver medalist finished 12th overall, some two seconds outside the qualification standard.
Less than 24 hours after her record breaking performance yesterday, Murphy was back in the pool this morning but was unable to reproduce the form that saw her claim silver in the 1500m and just miss out on a medal in the 800m.
While the likes of Lotte Friis, who claimed gold in both the 800m and 1500m, and Rebecca Adlington progressed to this evening’s decider, Murphy clocked a time of 4 minutes, 14.09 seconds that was well down the pecking order.
The 17-year-old from New Ross in Wexford will return home tomorrow after smashing her record in the 1500m yesterday. She came home in a time of 16:02.29, slashing another eight seconds off the record she set in qualifying fastest for the final.
In total Murphy has slashed over 28 seconds off her Irish mark over the two swims, making the Leaving Certificate student a real hope for the 2012 Olympics in London.
“It was really good. I pulled out of the fly this morning to rest and see how it went. I didn’t expect a medal, it’s amazing,” said a delighted Murphy last night.
“I am surprised that I managed the change from junior to senior level so well. I can’t yet evaluate my performance. I’m hoping to stabilise and confirm this result.”
Murphy was unlucky not to medal in the 800 metres freestyle on Thursday as she was cruelly edged out of bronze by just 0.05secs by double world champion Federica Pellegrini on the final touch. Friis also won that race.