SWIMMING EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS:GRÁINNE MURPHY, the new Irish swimming sensation, missed out on a bronze medal in the final of the Women's 800 metres by a mere five hundredths of a second, denied by Italy's Federica Pellegrini at the European Swimming Championships in Budapest.
Murphy looked set for an unexpected bronze as the race reached its climax, as up ahead the world champion Lotte Friis of Denmark took the gold and Ophelie-Cyrille Etienne of France claimed silver.
As Murphy hit the wall, however, a fast finishing Pellegrini just got the touch from lane two to deny the 17-year-old Irish swimmer a place on the victory rostrum by the smallest of margins.
The race itself had worked out better than expected for Murphy, who was the fastest qualifier and who started the 16 lengths final in lane number four.
By 200 metres Friis, swimming alongside Murphy in lane five, had moved into the lead, with Etienne, out in lane one, in second and Murphy fifth behind Pellegrini and Rebecca Adlington of Britain, the reigning Olympic champion.
By the 300 turn Murphy had moved past Adlington into fourth and by the half-way mark had also passed the Italian into the bronze medal position.
Over the next 400 metres Murphy, a European junior 800 metre champion, remained third behind Friis and Etienne and looked to be heading for a bronze, only to be cruelly denied by the very last touch.
Nevertheless, the Irish girl wasn’t unduly worried about the fact she had been denied Ireland’s first European long course swimming medal in 13 years.
“I felt absolutely amazing. I wasn’t even expecting to make the final, never mind get close to a bronze, it’s such a tough event,” said an ebullient Murphy after the race.
“Having the world and Olympic champions in the same event was just amazing and coming fourth was just something else. I wasn’t even expecting to get into the top eight.
“You may not believe this but I was just going in there and having as much fun as I could. It’s my first major senior competition and I really want to gain as much experience as I can at events like this.
“I now know more about swimming a major 800 freestyle final and the other girls in the race had so much more experience than me,” she added.
“Every stroke felt really strong and we had a fair idea that Lotte (Friis) was going to go out fast and try to get away from Pellegrini, and the French girl (Etienne) would also be in the race as she was in the world final last year.
“My coach Ronald Claes knew about their strengths and weakness before the race.
“Coming fourth in a major final is just brilliant. I improved on my time and I bettered my seventh place in the 400 IM. I’m still very young and I have many more years in the sport to come.”
Murphy’s championship is, in fact, far from over. She is entered in the 1,500 metre freestyle heats today and the 200 Butterfly tomorrow and the 400 freestyle on Sunday. The way she is swimming, Ireland may yet attain a coveted medal before the week is out.
Earlier in the day, Ryan Harrison and Barry Murphy, swimming in the same heat, failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the men’s 100 metres freestyle as Harrison registered a time of 51.16 seconds, while Murphy was slightly slower in 51.23.
It was Harrison’s last swim of the competition and his next major meet is the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Delhi, where he will be part of the Northern Ireland squad.
Barry Murphy though, was using the 100 freestyle heats as a tune up for his big sprint events, the 50 metre breaststroke today and the 50 freestyle tomorrow.
Coming into the meet in Hungary the 22-year-old Dubliner, based at the University of Michigan, was ranked in the top six in Europe in the 50 breaststroke.
His first mission is to get out of the heats this morning and into the top 16 for the semi-finals.
“I never really got going throughout the whole swim,” said Murphy.
“I guess it’s a reflection of the work I have been doing this year and the condition I’m in, which hasn’t been the best.
“I still haven’t clicked yet but I’ll put that behind me now and look ahead to my best events over the next few days.
“I think the 50s are going to be fine, the breaststroke feels good. Right now I’m just looking to the heats to get a top 16 time. I have to do that, just one race at a time.”
Ireland’s other competitors today are Claire Dawson and Melanie Nocher in the women’s 200 freestyle. Nocher competes in the 50 backstroke heats.
It was a good night for the host nation in last night’s other finals as Katinka Hossou won the women’s 200 IM.
Daniel Gyurta also won the men’s 200 breaststroke. The Hungarian women’s 4 x 220 freestyle team won a stunning gold, by just pipping France.
Britain won their fourth gold of the week as Gemma Spofforth took the women’s 100 backstroke final.
WOMENS 800M FREESTYLE FINAL
1. Lotte Friis (Denmark) 8mins 23.27secs
2. Ophelie-C Etienne (France) 8:24.00
3. Federica Pellegrini (Italy) 8:24.99
4. Gráinne Murphy (Ireland) 8:25.04
5. Camelia Potec (Romania) 8:26.81
6. Erika Villaecija (Spain) 8:27.07
7. Rebecca Adlington (Britain) 8:27.48
8. Eider Santamaria (Spain) 8:42.62
