Home News BRITISH AGE GROUP CHAMPIONSHIPS – Pond’s Forge, Sheffield

BRITISH AGE GROUP CHAMPIONSHIPS – Pond’s Forge, Sheffield

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Day 3 saw the TEAM from Ireland grow this morning as Mary-Kate McDowell (Bangor SC, Ulster) and her coach Fred Kerr joined the team for the remainder of the event. Another busy day was in store for the team. The
day started well with a strong PB performance by Kyle Stolk in the 14Yrs Boys
400FC. Kyle has been developing this event in the last year and has made
some substantial improvements in this events this season.

 

 The event was due to be a tough one for him, given entry times, but he managed to make it to the final as the 6th fastest qualifier. He was followed by Katrin Kychygina,
who delivered a strong PB performance in the 200FC, as did Mary Kate
McDowell, who was swimming the first of her two races in the morning. A strongly ranked Luke Fitzgibbon, delivered a solid
performance in his heats but was disappointed to be only ranked as 9th fastest for the finals. With two to additional strong Heat
swims, both Clodagh Flood and Sarah Kelly qualified in their respective finals in the 200BF. Both girls also joined Mary Kate
McDowell again in the 800FC and whilst performances were strong, only Flood managed to post a new PB in the longer event.
Day 3 Heats –
400FC Kyle Stolk L 2:05.3 / 4:15.5 (PB & 6th Qual) 14Yrs
200FC Mary-Kate McDowell U 1:04.3 / 2:14.28. (PB & 22nd) 13Yrs
Katrin Kychygina L 1:04.95 / 2:16.81 (PB & 28th) 13Yrs
200BC Luke Fitzgibbon L 1:05.8 / 2:17.11 (9th Qual) 14Yrs
200BF Clodagh Flood L 1:09.6 / 2:28.1 (PB & 2nd Qual) 12Yrs
Sarah Kelly C 1:09.7 / 2:24.31 (PB & 5th Qual) 13Yrs
800M Clodagh Flood L 4:53.53 / 4:55 – 9:48.6 (PB & 11th) 12Yrs
Sarah Kelly C 4:48.79 / 4:45 – 9:33.48 (14th) 13Yrs
Mary-Kate McDonnell U 4:46.07 / 4:54 – 9:40.91 (24th) 13Yrs
Day 3 Finals
Another great night was in store for the TEAM as the search for more top 3
places continued. Kyle Stolk, took a more aggressive approach with pacing
his race tonight and raced an excellently paced race to deliver a silver medal
performance with a 4:09.14 PB swim, a massive PB and a well earned 2nd spot
on the podium. After a performance in the morning that looked a more
strained effort, Luke Fitzgibbon returned to the pool, in a more focused way
this evening and executed a race strategy to perfection to see him deliver a
new PB but narrowly miss out on a podium place, with an excellent 4th place,
to better the 7th place effort he placed in the 100M event. 4th was the order
of the day this evening, with the following two finalists digging incredibly
deep to narrowly miss out on the podium. Clodagh Flood and Sarah Kelly
were touched out at the wall in both of their age group finals, in tightly
contested races to both finish 4th in their respective 12Yrs and 13Yrs age
grouping. Both girls left the pool with substantial PB’s, and excellent racing
experiences to bring back home. The team members who cheered them on
tonight saw three 4th place finishes in succession but left happy that we had
delivered some excellent performances for the 3rd day in a row. Tomorrow is
a big day for the team as it’s the last day of competition for the combined
Connaught & Leinster athletes.
Day 3 – Finals –
400FC Kyle Stolk L 2:02.69 / 4:09.14 (PB & 2nd SILVER) 14Yrs
200BC Luke Fitzgibbon L 1:04.6 / 2:12.63 (PB & 4th) 14Yrs
200BF Clodagh Flood L 1:09.8 / 2:27.24 (PB & 4th) 12Yrs
200BF Sarah Kelly C 1:07.9 / 2:23.12 (PB & 4th) 13Yrs