Bethany Carson, Sycerika McMahon and Shauna Smith shine at 2011 Irish Long Course Championships
Preliminary rounds of day two of the 2011 Irish Long Course Championships witnessed overshadowing performances of Bethany Carson, Sycerika McMahon and Shauna Smith at the National Aquatic Centre on April 29, 2011.
The second day of the Irish Championship concluded with the preliminary rounds of the 100m freestyle, 100m breast-stroke, 400m Individual medley (IM) and the 50m butterfly along with the 800m freestyle time-final in the Women’s category.
The session started with the Women’s 100m freestyle, where the LISB’s Bethany Carson overwhelmed TEMP-LE’s Niamh Murphy in the last 25 metres of the swim. Carson produced a time of 58.17 seconds to secure the fastest qualification spot against Murphy’s 58.95
seconds effort. LIMK’s Shauna Smith and Grainne Murphy followed them on the finishing wall, clocking a time of 59.20 and 59.52 seconds to secure the third and fourth fastest qualification, respectively.
Next were the preliminary rounds of the 100m breast-stroke, where the arena’s favourite Sycerika McMahon of LEA once again occupied the fastest qualification spot. McMahon earned the fastest qualification spot with a timing of 1:14.90 minutes. Her time was
comfortably ahead of the NRS’s Shani Stallard and ALS’s Catrina English, who touched the wall for second and third fastest qualification in a time of 1:14.94 and 1:16.64 minutes, respectively.
Moments later, Grainne Murphy of LIMK displayed a wonderful swim in the 400m IM. Murphy secured the top qualification spot in 4:55.48 minutes and was almost six seconds faster than her closest Rival, Shani Stallard. Stallard qualified as the second fastest
swimmer into the final, clocking a time of 5:01.56 minutes. UCD’s Niamh O’ Sullivan and LEA’s Sycerika McMahon followed her into the finals, touching the wall third and fourth in 5:05.81 and 5:17.41 minutes, respectively.
In the 50m butterfly, LIMK’s Shauna Smith appeared as the fastest swimmer to qualify into the finals. Smith clocked a time of 28.58 seconds and was followed by WAT’s Shauna O’ Brien and ENSK’s Chelsey Wilson, who surfaced as second and third fastest in 28.71
and 29.78 seconds. Aisling Cooney of ESB-IRL and Lorna Cummins of SWSC finished fourth and fifth, posting 29.89 and 30.02 seconds.
The last event of the session was 800m freestyle time-final, where UCD’s Niamh O’ Sullivan proved her eligibility for the golden crown with a timing of 8:54.67 minutes. TROJ-IRL’s Nuala Murphy and BAN’s Mary-Kate McDowell reached the podium for the silver
and bronze medal, clocking a time of 9:06.32 and 9:23.56 minutes, respectively.
These swimmers will battle each other once again in the next round of their respective swims, where the swimmers posting a time under FINA time qualification standard will qualify for the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai this July.
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