Swimming: Melanie Nocher led the way as Irish swimmers set four new national records on the opening day of the 2011 European Short Course Swimming Championships in Szczecin, Poland.
Nocher qualified for the semi-final of the 100m backstroke event, setting a new Irish senior record of 59.37 in the heats.
She then shaved seven hundredths of a second off that time in the semi-finals, although it wasn’t enough to make tomorrow’s final, her time of 19.30 leaving her in 15th position. Nocher’s main event is the 200m backstroke, taking place on Sunday.
Kilkenny swimmer Jane Roberts set a new Irish junior record of 1:02.29 in the 100m backstroke and also set a personal best of 57.70 in the 100m freestyle.
Gráinne Murphy set a new Irish senior mark in the 200m individual medley, finishing in 19th place in a time of 2:12.71, while fellow UL swimmer Shani Stallard also set a new personal best in this event, finishing in a time of 2:16.36. Murphy also swam in the 200m butterfly heats, finishing in 18th place (2:12.13).
Bethany Carson set a new personal best time in the heats of the 100m freestyle (55.91), finishing just ahead of Clare Dawson (56.09), though neither progressed beyond the heats.
Irish duo Nicholas Quinn (Castlebar SC) and Dan Sweeney (Sunday’s Well SC) both set personal best times of 1:02.95 and 1:03.23 respectively in the men’s 100m breaststroke.