Cork swimmers impress at World Masters Aquatic Championships in Qatar
Cork Swimming: The Cork Masters Team at the Aspire Dome in Doha at the recent World Masters Championships.
THE World Masters Aquatic Championships took place in Doha, Qatar where 2,594 athletes from 964 clubs and 85 federations were in action.
Emphasis was put on clubs not countries at these championships due to the current world political situation but 26 Irish swimmers competed, nine from Cork Masters.
The Old Doha Port was the venue for the Open Water Finals. Jane Jolly of Cork Masters got the Irish team off to a dream start on the opening day of the Championships. Swimming in the 70-74 age group she completed the 3k distance in an impressive 1:01.32 ahead of Sabine Morche-Bloch, Germany on 1:05.17 and Lihua Guo, China in third on 1:06.41, to claim the first gold for Cork Masters and Team Ireland.
Attention switched to the Aspire Dome for the individual events in the pool. Jane was the first member of Team Ireland in action and produced another excellent swim in the 800m freestyle. She swam a consistent, well-paced race, to set a new Irish Masters Record of 14:28.68 and claim bronze.
Jane returned to the pool again after two days and swam another Irish Masters Record of 7:04.30 to claim a second bronze at 400m freestyle. Jane finished just outside the medals to place 4th at 100m freestyle.
Paul Laffan began his World Championship campaign in dramatic fashion posting a new Irish Masters Record time of 53.03 to claim victory at 100m freestyle. In the sprint 50m freestyle final he was pipped at the finish to place 2nd on 23.56 behind the American Ozeki Mig Ortiz-Canavate on 23.27.
In an intensely competitive sprint, he held off the chasing Spaniard, Jose Maria Gomez Angulo 25.37 and Porteguese Carlos Pedrosa in third on 25.42. Laffan’s time was the fastest across all age groups in the 50m butterfly on that final day. He is also the first Irish Master swimmer to swim sub 25 minutes 50m butterfly and secured a new Irish Masters Record in the process.
Earlier in the week he placed a very creditable seventh at 100m butterfly.
Paul joined his Cork Masters teammates, Alan O’Brien, Tim Daly and Gavin O’Brien to place 5th in the 4x50m Medley Relay and 6th in the 4x50m Freestyle Relay. Of note, they were just 0.77 seconds shy of a bronze medal in the freestyle relay.
Other Cork Masters swimmers in action over the week included Aoife Sexton, with top 10 finishes at 50m. 100m & 200m backstroke and a 14th place finish at 200m IM.
Catherine Costigan swam 30 seconds faster than her entry time to place 13th overall at 800m freestyle. She improved her ranking to 7th overall at 400m freestyle. She placed 10th at 50m backstroke and 13th at 100m & 20m backstroke.
Elaine Whyte placed 5th overall at 400m freestyle. She also competed at 50m & 100m freestyle and at 50m backstroke and 200m IM.
Gavin O’Brien competed at the 50m, 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle. His best result came at 200m freestyle when he placed 7th overall.
Alan O’Brien had a 9th place finish at 200m IM and a top 20 finish at 100m freestyle. Tim Daly competed at 100m breaststroke and 100m backstroke.
There was disappointment for Claire O’Connell, Kingdom Masters in the 100m breaststroke when a pacing error resulted in a 5th-place finish.
However, in real champion style, she put the disappointment behind her and with encouragement from her Irish teammates, she returned to the pool for the 50m breaststroke.
She was pushed all the way by Hungarian, Brigitta Gregus but held on to clinch the victory 34.07 with Gregus on 34.09, Buoyed on by that success she swam a well paced 200m breaststroke to win silver on 2:48.21. She also placed a very credible 4th at 200m IM.
The Aer Lingus quartet of John Cunningham, Peter Conway, Boyd Freemen and Vibian Mongey combined to win double bronze in the 4x50m freestyle and medley relays.
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