Andrew Bree set another Irish record at the European Short Course Swimming Championships in Belgium today.
The Helen’s Bay swimmer clocked a time of 2 minutes 11.30 seconds in the men’s 200 metres breaststroke, trimming his previous personal best by 1.5 seconds and claiming another of Gary O’Toole’s long-standing national records.
The race was won by Austria’s Maxim Podoprigora in 2:07.79, England’s Ian Edmond took second 2:08.03 while Daniel Malek from the Czech Republic was third 2:09.07
On a personal note, Bree has excelled in the pool in Antwerp this week. On Friday the 20-year-old slashed over five seconds off his own Irish record in the 400 metres individual medley while the previous day he broke O’Toole’s 11-year Irish record in the 200 metres individual medley.
However, despite Bree’s personal achievements, he is still some way off competing for medals at the highest level. The second year student at the University of Tennessee could only manage 10th place in today’s race with the top eight making it into tonight’s final.
Michael Williamson swam the same discipline in a time of 2:13.08 to finish 13th.