Big medal haul for Cork swimmers

A revamped Irish National Age Group Championships took place at the University of Limerick recently.

Switching to a 50m, the revised format marked an exciting new chapter for Swim Ireland and attracted the best young swimmers from across Ireland. 

Among them, the Cork contingent showcased their exceptional talent. They featured in great numbers in ‘A’ and ‘B’ finals. 

There were many medals and Achievement Certificates, marking a very successful meet.

There was also relay success, with SWSC winning gold in both the Mixed 13-14 years 400m freestyle & medley. 

The Dolphin girls won the 13/14 400m freestyle and were 3rd in the medley.

The 12 year old girls team won silver in the 200m medley relay. The 12 year old boys from Blackrock won the 200m medley and were 2nd at the freestyle.

The top individual performers, Phelim Hanley and Lexi Dunne were featured in last week’s column.

Tadgh O’Brien (14), Dolphin, impressed in the distance events. He had 10 seconds to spare at 1,500m freestyle to lift the National Title on 17:49.06 ahead of Dylan Brady, Drogheda 17:59.97. 

Brady was the one with 10 seconds to spare over 800m to win on 9:17.64 with O’Brien in 3rd on 9:27.19. O’Brien claimed a second National Title when elevated to 1st place following a disqualification for Phelim Hanley. 

He touched on 5:04.94 which was a 14.63 improvement on his entry time. He added a second bronze medal at 200m backstroke 2:23.55. 

Tadgh qualified for the ‘A’ final in all of his events, 50m, 100m & 400m freestyle, 100m breaststroke, 100m backstroke and 200m IM.

Rene Malley (13), Dolphin, qualified in 6th place for the 200m breaststroke final, but a much improved swim in the evening final earned her the silver medal, with a 2.62 second PB to touch on 3:03.81. 

She qualified for the ‘A’ finals at 50m & 100m freestyle, 100m & 200m butterfly and 100m breaststroke and ‘B’ finals at 100m backstroke, 200m freestyle & 200m IM.

Lev Lobanets (12), Blackrock won double gold in the freestyle. He dipped under the 30 second barrier, 29.77, in the prelims of 50m freestyle to qualify as the number one seed to the evening final. 

A further improvement of 0.49 seconds yielded his first National Title 29.28. He doubled up on the following evening with victory at 100m free. 

He had a total improvement of 5.72 seconds over prelim & final to touch on 1:04.97. He closed out his meet with a silver medal on the penultimate evening at 100m backstroke 1:15.04, a 2.46 second improvement on his entry time.

Garvan Gillard (13), was another to impress over the distance events. 

He collected his first of three bronze medals on the opening day, posting 5:42.66 at 400m IM. 

He swam an impressive 1:18.29 PB to place 3rd at 1,500m freestyle 20:18.47. On the final day, he had an 8.64 PB swim in the prelims of 200m butterfly, to qualify second fastest to the evening final. 

He was unable to match that time in the final and touched on 2:42.61 and was agonisingly 0.36 seconds shy of the silver medal. He had to settle for 4th at 800m freestyle and 6th at 100m butterfly. 

He also qualified for the ‘B’ final at 200m freestyle.

Caoilinn O’Connor (14) was the darling for SWSC. In a blanket finish at 200m backstroke, it was O’Connor who reached the wall first and dipped under the 1:10 marker touching on 1:09.35. 

The top four all posted times sub 1:10 with Chloe Dawnay, Templeogue on 1:09.72, Leah Jacobs, Lurgan on 1:09.86 and Orna Higgins, Dolphin on 1:09.95 for 4th place. 

O’Connor had to dig deep over 200m back to hold off the chasing Leah Jacobs and clinch the silver medal by the narrowest of margins 2:30.92 with Jacobs in 3rd on 2:30.93. O’Connor qualified for the ‘A’ final in all her events, 50m, 100m & 200m freestyle, 200m & 400m IM and 200m breaststroke.

Phelim Hanley led an all Cork trio to the podium at 400m freestyle on the final evening. 

The SWSC duo, Liam O’Driscoll and Thomas Bugler placed 2nd & 3rd with 4:30.80 and 4:31.95 respectively.

O’Driscoll returned to the start blocks in a quick turnaround for the 200m butterfly final. 

Hanley claimed the title, with O’Driscoll in 3rd on 2:25.89.

Bugler added a second bronze at 100m butterfly 1:04.92. 

He narrowly missed bronze at 100m freestyle, touching on 58.51 just 0.20 seconds shy of 3rd place. He also placed 4th at 800m freestyle.