Swimming:Grainne Murphy's star shines ever brighter for less than 24 hours after just missing out on a medal at the European Championships she finished as the fastest qualifier from this morning's heats in the women's 1,500 metres freestyle in Budapest.
The 17-year put in a stunning performance in yesterday’s 800m freestyle final but narrowly missed out on a medal by just five hundredths of a second to finish fourth and set a new Irish record (8:25.04).
This morning she was back in the pool and showed no signs of fatigue after finishing top of the pile in a time of 16:10.65, over two seconds quicker than Spain’s Erika Villaecija Garcia with the second fastest time (16:13.05).
Murphy’s time blew away her previous Irish national record by a remarkable 18 seconds as she looks ahead to tomorrow’s final from 4pm Irish time.
“I didn’t really expect to go as fast as I did today. Coming out of the 800m last night was quite tough,” Murphy said afterwards. “After last night’s swim, I just tried to get as much rest, physio and recovery as I could.”
Murphy is also entered in tomorrow’s 200m butterfly – but may drop out to focus on the 1,500m final - and the 400m freestyle on Sunday, and given her performances to date, the teenager may yet return home with a medal.
Sprint specialist Barry Murphy was also in action today and progressed to tomorrow’s 50m breaststroke final with a fine swim in this evening’s semis. Murphy had limped into the semi-finals with a time of 28.09 this morning but upped his game to clock a time of 27.60, finish second and book his place in the decider.
“I was an outside smoker in Lane One. It’s not always an easy lane to be in but I just swam my own race and it went really well. I talked to the coaches and we all agreed that the last ten metres of my heat swim this morning wasn’t what I needed to do and it was mostly a concentration thing where I just stopped thinking about my legs, so in the semi tonight I just focused on my legs, so I was pleased with that,” said the Dubliner.
“It’s great to be a part of the success of Ireland’s swimmers this week. We have a really small team here but I feel like we’ve represented our country really well. We’ve only missed a final one day and that’s day and night from a few years ago. It’s exciting to be a part of this and everyone’s building off each others success. It’s just a brilliant atmosphere in the Irish camp and I’m really enjoying it,” he added.
Ireland’s other competitors today were Claire Dawson (2:01.96) and Melanie Nocher (2:01.97), who finished 21st and 22nd respectively with almost identical times in the women’s 200m freestyle.
Nocher’s time was good enough to win her heat in a personal best time, while Dawson’s time was more disappointing, almost two seconds slower than her national record. Nocher was also due to race in the 50m backstroke heats but did not show.
Day 5 (Heats) Irish Results:
Women’s 200m freestyle
21st Clare Dawson (2:01.96)
22nd Melanie Nocher (2:01.97)
Men’s 50m breaststroke
Barry Murphy (28.09) – qualified for tonight’s semi-final (5.20pm Irish time)
Women’s 1,500m freestyle
Grainne Murphy (16:10.65) - qualified fastest for tomorrow’s final (4pm Irish time)