Swimming:Ireland's Sycerika McMahon and Barry Murphy both failed to advance from their respective heats at the World Swimming Championships in Shanghai.
McMahon (16) finished third in her 400m freestyle heat in a time of 4:16.44 to be 24th in the overall standings. The Co Down swimmer recently won the gold medal at the European Junior Championships in Serbia and was making her debut at the Worlds in China.
Murphy (25) had a disappointing swim in the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:02.50, almost two seconds slower than his personal best, which he swam earlier this year in Indianapolis and was inside the FINA ‘A’ qualifying standard for the 2012 Olympic Games.
“The whole race just didn’t feel very good. I felt low in the water from the start and I didn’t have that pop that I usually have. It was pretty disappointing,” said Murphy.
“I’ve changed some things around this year training wise and I did a longer taper than usual for this meet. Maybe it’s not what suits me right now. I was pretty psyched (before the race) and obviously I’ve been waiting a long time for this meet to come around. After that time in March I was really excited, but I guess it just didn’t work out.”
Peter Banks, Swim Ireland national performance director said: “There’s no doubt Barry was disappointed. He is going to look back at his taper and maybe it was longer than he needed. Sycerika’s 400m freestyle was a best morning swim and it was a good experience for her learning how to deal with swimming at a major championship like this – a positive start overall for Sycerika.”
The meet continues for another seven days with McMahon and Murphy due to take to the pool in other events. Irish swimmers in action on day two are McMahon in the 100m breaststroke, Melanie Nocher in the 100m backstroke and Gráinne Murphy in the 1,500m freestyle.
Irish Day 1 Results:
Heats:
W 400m freestyle: S. McMahon 4:16.44, 24th place
M 100m breaststroke: B. Murphy 1:02.50, 47th place