Aisling Margaret Coone wins 50m back-stroke: 2011 Irish Long Course Championships
ESB-IRL’s Aisling Margaret Cooney dominates the qualifying rounds of the 50m back-stroke on third day of the 2011 Irish Long Course Championships at the National Aquatic Centre in Abbotstown.
The 20-year-old Aisling Margaret Cooney earned the fastest qualification into the semi-finals by touching the wall first in 30.19 seconds. Her time was 1.06 seconds away from her following
swimmer, ENSK’s Chelsey Wilson, who qualified as the second fastest swimmer in a time of 31.25 seconds. SWSC’s 16-year-old Emma Cassidy secured the third fastest spot by clocking a time of 31.48 seconds.
Cooney seemed confident from the start of the race. Her quicker dive provided her marginal lead, but her beautiful swimming stroke turned her fastest swimmer in the first 20 metres of the
race. Cooney with her stupendous arm-stroke was half a body length away from her closest rival, Wilson. She continued her magnificent swim and touched the wall first to qualify as the fastest swimmer.
In the meantime, Wilson was having a neck-to-neck race with Cassidy, who pounced on Wilson’s shoulder in the second half of the race. They both presented a ferocious swim in front of the
arena whereas Wilson managed to out-touch Cassidy with the long reach of her arm and clocked 31.25 seconds against her 31.48 seconds effort.
They were followed by LISB’s Katie Reid and TEMP-LE’s Grace Branagan, who touched the wall for fourth and fifth spot, clocking a time of 31.78 and 31.84 seconds. ALS’s Niamh McDonnell and
LARNE’s Clara Montgomery secured sixth and seventh fastest qualification spots, posting a time of 32.57 and 33.00 seconds. GAL’s Ciara Naughton claimed eighth fastest spot in 33.03 seconds.
Cooney was extremely happy after getting one step closer to the national title and said that she will try to maintain her position in the next rounds of the swim and has an aim to represent
her country at the 2011 Shanghai World Championships.
These swimmers will once again compete with each other in the semi-finals of the same events, where the swimmers clocking a time under FINA time qualification standard will ensure their places
for Shanghai.
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