The Olympic trials for Swim Ireland opened on the first day with Danielle Hill earning her place on the list of athletes qualifying for the Paris Olympics in a remarkable fashion. She accomplished her first sub-one-minute finish in the women’s 100m backstroke after just last month setting the Irish record at 1:00.16. Hill chose the semi-final event at the National Aquatic Centre in Abbotstown, her second swim of the day, to push for the 59.99 seconds benchmark required for Paris qualification, exceeding expectations by finishing with an impressive 59.11 seconds, enhancing her personal best by more than one second.
The 25-year-old swimmer, a member of Larne Swimming Club, has already qualified for Tokyo in the same event, and will now compete in her second Olympic event. The Paris race stands out to Hill more as she has overcome setbacks due to injuries during the last two years.
Aiming to break the 59.99 second mark and holding the title of the first Irish woman to achieve it, Hill said that she wanted to lay a firm claim to that record without leaving any room for doubt. She pursued her goal relentlessly and was rewarded by achieving her objective. Hill regards her qualification as extremely special given her contemplation to quit the sport nine months ago. Now, she expresses a sense of relief and readiness to compete again.
In the Irish Open Championships, which are held simultaneously with the Olympic trials, Hill led the women’s 100m backstroke heats demonstrating a time of 1:00.37, an indication of her recent stellar performance. Hill is Ireland’s quickest female swimmer as well as the holder of the 50m freestyle record. Born in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, Hill showcased her best record of 59.11, just when she needed it the most.
Qualification times for the Paris Olympics had also been previously met by swimmers Daniel Wiffen (for 400m, 800m, 1,500m freestyle), Ellen Walshe (200m medley), and Mona McSharry (100m breaststroke). Conor Ferguson, a 24-year-old from Belfast, continues to chase his Olympic qualification in the 100m backstroke, coming up just shy in his opening heat.
Falling short by just .13 seconds from the required 53.74 seconds to secure his spot for the Paris tournament, Ferguson managed to improve his timing from 53.90 seconds to clock in at 53.87 seconds. Notwithstanding his near-miss, he once more dived into the pool for his semi-final bid in the afternoon, finishing at 54.12. His final attempt to achieve the elusive 53.74 seconds will be during Thursday’s final. After narrowly missing out on the Rio and Tokyo competitions when he was 16, this time he is certainly determined.
Two-time world champion, Wiffen, yet again beat the Olympic qualifying time in the 800m freestyle, emerging victorious in his heat at 7:51.47. He also broke the championship record in this event, not long after his twin, Nathan, bettered his own 2023 championship best time of 8:03.79 by clocking 7:56.40. These Loughborough-based swimming twins, aged 22, will compete again in Thursday’s 800m freestyle, with Nathan aiming for the Paris qualifying time of 7:51.65. Post that, they’ll focus on the 1,500m freestyle.
Meanwhile, young swimmer Evan Bailey smashed the first Irish record of the week with a remarkable 1:48.49 seconds in the 200m freestyle event. Bailey, from New Ross, managed to shave more than a second off the 2018 record of 1:49.57.
In another event, the 200m individual medley, a stellar performance was delivered by Walshe, who had secured her Paris spot last year. Walshe clocked at 2:11.95 in her heat. The fastest semi-finalist was National Centre Limerick’s Ellie McCartney, who managed 2:14.92 at just 19 years of age. This has put her into consideration for the European Championships next month.
Wiffen, Ferguson, Hill, Bailey, Walshe and McCartney have all achieved qualifying times for the Belgrade event next month. Both the female and male teams have met the qualifying standards for the Paris 4x100m medley relay. Yet, for confirmation, the men’s team needs two individual Olympic qualification times.
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