Over the weekend, Irish athletes continued to impress globally with a number of strong performances across various competitions, spanning from Alabama to Sheffield and Melbourne.
SEC Championships
The SEC Championships took place in Auburn, Alabama with Irish swimmers featuring throughout the weekend.
With five months until the Olympic Games, Mona McSharry continued her impressive form as she was crowned 100y and 200y Breaststroke champion. McSharry posted a championship and school record time of 2:03.84 in the 200 Breaststroke. In the 100 Breaststroke, McSharry won her third consecutive title, the first SEC swimmer to do so since 2000, stopping the clock at 57 seconds to claim gold and set a new championship record.
McSharry was also part of the Lady Vols quartet that smashed the SEC Record in the 400 Medley Relay with a time of 3:24.92 to claim gold; the Sligo native became only the second woman to go sub-56 seconds in the breaststroke leg of the Medley Relay. McSharry also came away with silvers in the 200 Medley Relay and 200 Freestyle Relay, and a bronze in the 50 Freestyle.
Molly Mayne, representing the University of Florida, was part of the of the Florida Gators Relay team who claimed the 200 Medley Relay gold, finishing ahead of the Tennessee Lady Vols and McSharry. There was double delight for Mayne as the Gators were crowned SEC Champions for 2024.
In Lafayette, Indiana, Ciara McGing finished in fifth place in the Platform A Final for Ohio State in the Women’s B1G Championships.
Citi Para Swimming World Series
With the 2024 Paralympic Games on the horizon, Irish Para swimmers continued their preparation as they competed in the Melbourne edition of the Citi Para Swimming World Series.
Róisín Ní Riain stole the show, winning five gold medals across the S13 50 and 100 Backstroke, 100 Breaststroke, 100 Butterfly and 200 Medley.
Nicole Turner claimed the S6 gold medal in the 50 Butterfly, closely followed by her Irish teammate Dearbhaile Brady in second.
Tokyo Paralympic champion, Ellen Keane (SB8) claimed 50 Breaststroke silver on the opening day of the meet, while Lisburn swimmer, Deaten Registe continued his impressive form with a bronze in the S14 100 Breaststroke.
Ireland finished second place in the medal table only behind hosts Australia who had a whopping team of 61 swimmers feature in the event.
BUCS
Daniel Wiffen was back on the blocks fresh off winning double gold in Doha to represent Loughborough University at the BUCS Championships in Sheffield.
On the opening night, Wiffen topped the podium in the 1500 Freestyle, setting a new BUCS Championship record in a time of 14:42.05, taking 20 seconds off his previous record. Nathan Wiffen also claimed a podium position in the 1500 Free, clocking 15:54.37 to win bronze. Their fellow Loughborough and Ireland teammate Conor Ferguson was also on the podium on the opening evening as he finished second (54.03) in the 100 Backstroke Final.
On Saturday, Daniel Wiffen produced another gold standard performance as he broke yet another BUCS record in devasting fashion with 7:43.09 in the 800m Freestyle, shaving more than 20 seconds off his record. Conor Ferguson featured on the podium again, this time it was in the 200 Backstroke Final with 2:00.21.
Sunday evening saw Daniel Wiffen complete his hattrick of medals, winning the 400 Freestyle gold in 3:49.66, smashing the BUCS Record. Conor Ferguson was also in record-breaking form as he claimed top spot on the podium and set a new BUCS record in the 50 Backstroke with a 24.72, taking gold by just 0.01 of a second.
Another Irish swimmer was on the podium as Uiseann Cooke (Edinburgh) clocked 2:15.43 in the 200 Breaststroke Final to win silver.
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