from Swim Ireland 28 November 2010 – Irish swimmer Grainne Murphy today qualified for another European swimming final, following a fantastic week for Irish Swimming and the New Ross youngster at the European Short Course Swimming Championships in Eindhoven. Murphy finished the heats of the women’s 400m Individual Medley in a time of 4:39.19 and although 2.5 seconds outside the Irish Senior Record, it was enough to see her into the evening final in 6th place.
Murphy, who competing in a demanding seven events in Eindhoven, started the final in lane 7 and lowered her time set in the heats, finishing in 4:37.47. The race was won by Hungarian Zsuzsanna Jakabos in a time of 4:29.78. Murphy also took part in the 200m freestyle heats today but missed out on a place in the top eight.
Melanie Nocher dropped out of the 200m freestyle heats to fully concentrate on her main event, the 200m backstroke, but an exhausted Nocher, who was fifth in the 400m freestyle final yesterday, faded in the back end of the race and finished 14th with a time of 2:08.79.
Aisling Cooney also swam the 200m backstroke after narrowly missing out on the 50m backstroke final yesterday, but she too missed out on a place in the final, registering a time of 2:12.91.
Speaking at the conclusion of these Championships, Swim Ireland Performance Director Peter Banks today complimented the swimmers and coaching staff in Eindhoven. “It is really important to use Championships like this to measure swimmers’ progression at this time of the year. I feel that the three swimmers all stood up to the plate this week, and whilst Grainne obviously takes the limelight with her double medal winning triumph, both Aisling and Melanie can be proud of their achievements also.”
