Karl Burdis dominates day four of 2011 Irish Long Course National Championships – Men’s events
Preliminary rounds of day four of the 2011 Irish Long Course Championships witnessed dominating performances from the 21-year-old Karl Burdis, who occupied the 50m and 200m backstroke heats in the morning session.
The championship concluded on its last day at the National Aquatics Centre on May 1, 2011. The session included the preliminary rounds of the 50m backstroke, 400m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 200m backstroke, 200m individual medley and 50m freestyle in the
Men’s category.
The session started with the 50m backstroke, where PORT’s Karl Burdis displayed a magnificent swim to occupy the fastest qualification seat, clocking a time of 26.69 seconds. 21-year-old Burdis was 0.98 seconds ahead of his following swimmer, KILK-IRL’s
Colm Dowling, who touched the wall in 27.67 seconds. They were followed by 17-year-old BAN’s Jordan Sloan, who qualified as the third fastest swimmer in 28.15 seconds.
In the 400m freestyle, LEA’s Conor Donnelly appeared as the fastest swimmer, touching the wall first in 4:09.27 minutes. ATH’s Brendan Gibbons and ALS’ Andrew Meegan followed them into the finals, clocking a time of 4:10.26 and 4:10.69 minutes respectively.
Then, Philip Duffy of ST P sprinted his way in the 100m butterfly to earn the fastest qualification spot, touching the wall in a time of 58.17 seconds. KILK-IRL’s Dowling and CBAR’s Nicholas Quinn followed him into the semi-finals, posting a time of 58.19
and 59.05 seconds for the second and third fastest qualification.
Moments later, Burdis once again emerged as the fastest swimmer to qualify into the semi-finals of 200m backstroke. Burdis clocked a time of 2:08.37 minutes and was followed by ST P’s Niall Wynn and NRS’ Luke Fitzgibbon, who touched the wall for second and
third fastest qualification in a time of 2:09.27 and 2:10.72 minutes respectively.
After a few moments, Niall Wynn presented a wonderful swim of 2:07.37 minutes to claim the fastest qualification spot. ST P’s Wynn was almost three seconds ahead of his closest rival, KILK-IRL’s Colm Dowling, who touched the wall in 2:10.09 minutes to earn
the second fastest qualification. ALS’ Sean O’ Brien settled third, reporting a time of 2:11.52 minutes.
Last event of the session was the 50m freestyle, where NAC’s Brian O’ Sullivan out-touched Fintan Meagher of GLN to earn the fastest qualification seat into the semi-finals. Sullivan touched the wall in a time of 24.34 seconds against Meagher’s 24.70 seconds
effort. Matthew Coward of COR followed them into the next round of the event, clocking a time of 24.73 seconds.
The semi-finals and finals of the same events will be conducted in the evening session, where the position holders will reach the podium for their miraculous efforts.
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