Michelle Smith's late entry for the 200 metres butterfly on Friday in the National Swimming Championships at the Grove Baths in Belfast is a welcome boost for the event.

Suitable challengers may be in short supply even though there are entries from US and British clubs listed among the 41 clubs entered.

It will be Smith's only event in the short-course championships.

She last competed in the nationals in 1995 when she set a new Irish record for the 200 butterfly with 2;07.62 seconds, a time that was only point five of a second off the European short course record of the day.

The prospect of Lee Kelleher measuring her talents against the triple Olympic champion are quite remote at this stage.

Kelleher was a close second behind Germany's Geraldine Schulz in the 100 metres butterfly at the European Youths Olympics in Lisbon at the weekend . She clocked 1:03.9 despite unsatisfactory travelling arrangements that resulted in the Irish party not getting to sleep at their base until 4 a.m. on the day of competition.

The City of Cork girl is not expected home until Thursday unless she makes independent travelling arrangements. She will hardly get involved in the nationals anyway given that she is booked for the

European Junior championships in Glasgow the following week.

The signs are, however, that she is very much on course to launch a realistic attack on the medals at the Scottish venue from July 31st to August 3rd.

Other Olympians such as Nick O'Hare and Adrian O'Connor will compete at the Grove Baths but there are no second thoughts forthcoming at Terenure College on the question of competing in the

North. Club coach Kevin Williamson confirmed yesterday that his club will not be competing despite the ceasefire.

Two of the club's top competitors with good prospects of medals namely, 1,500 metres men, Stephen Saunders and Aaron Hanniffy will be travelling off their own bat.

The championhips have a 4 p.m. start today with distance events dominating the programme. There will be nine sessions in all, winding up with the final session on Saturday afternoon.