Fiona Doyle was unable to build on the national record she set this morning, when taking to the pool for the 50m Breaststroke semi-final at the World Swimming Championships in Barcelona this afternoon.

Doyle, who swam in the 100m Breaststroke semi-final earlier in the week finishing 11th, was 14th overall today after coming home seventh in the second semi-final from lane two.

Registering a time of 31.52, she was someway off the benchmark she set earlier today (30.93).

Ranked 10th going into the event, she took almost half a second off her previous best time of 31.35 to rank ninth going into the semi-final.

Doyle now holds Irish records in the 50m, 100m and 200m Breaststroke.

Delighted with her performance in the heats, 21-year-old earlier said: “I’m really, really happy. I’m delighted to be under 31 seconds and to set a new Irish record was fantastic. I’m very excited for the semi-final let’s see what happens and hopefully I can make the final.”

Nicholas Quinn was the only Irish swimmer in finals action at the US Open in California yesterday. Quinn, swimming in the 100m Breaststroke B Final, bettered his time from the morning heats to finish 3rd in the final and 11th overall in a time of 1:02.80.