Bree disappoints in Budapest

Swimming : The gathering gloom that has descended on the Irish camp at the European Swimming Championships in Budapest shows…

Swimming: The gathering gloom that has descended on the Irish camp at the European Swimming Championships in Budapest shows no signs of lifting after Andrew Bree failed qualify from his heat this morning.

Ranked sixth in Europe, the 25-year-old had been expected to progress comfortably to the latter stages of the 200 metres breaststroke but after clocking a time of 2 minutes, 18.11 seconds - almost four seconds outside his Irish record - Bree missed out on a place in the semi-finals.

Melanie Nocher was next in the pool from the Irish team and despite coming within 0.02 of her personal best in the 100 metres backstroke, she was unable to force her way into the next round.