SWIMMING/ European Short Course Championships: Amid the hype and excitement of a few championship records and a world relay record by Germany, Ireland's Andrew Bree fought gallantly to make a mark for himself on the opening day of the European Short Course Swimming Championships at the National Aquatic Centre in Abbotstown yesterday.
At first it promised to be a big day for the 21-year-old Irish breaststroke champion as he dealt with high profile opposition to reach the final of the 200 metres individual medley and the semi-finals of the 100 metres breaststroke in record time.
But then even becoming the first Irishman to break the minute for the 100 metres breaststroke did not add up to quite so much when he failed to make the final.
However, his time of 59.98 seconds was the highlight of the morning heats from an Irish viewpoint. He finished with great power over the last length, taking over from Slovak Matjaz Markic (I:00.97) to win his heat and clinch a semi-final place with an overall ranking of seventh.
In the semi-final, he finished fourth in 1:00.26, and 11th place overall. "I wasn't as smooth in the semi-final as I had hoped," Bree said, reckoning the 200 metres individual medley final, for which he had qualified with a blistering 1:58.42, came too soon - in fact, 10 minutes after the 100 semi-final.
"I just wanted to get into the IM final but when I made it I knew it was not going to be easy so soon after the 100 semi effort."
The great Jani Sievinen of Finland was in no danger of losing his world and European record of 1:54.65. Bree did pick up on breaststroke and freestyle legs to finish a creditable fourth in his heat and drew the dreaded lane one for the final.
There he finished well off the pace behind Sievinen. "It was impossible for Andrew to do himself justice because of the limited time between his 100 semi-final and 200 IM," said national coach Ger Doyle.
Bree had earlier shared 4 x 50 medley relay duties with Donal O'Neill, Muiris Ó Riada and Stephen O'Neill and trimmed the old Irish record by three seconds with 1:40.75. They finished in 12th place overall but the improvement in time was welcome.
Emma Robinson's time of 31.66 in the heats for the 50 metres breaststroke gained her a semi-final place, from which she failed to advance, and although Lee Kelleher was edged out by three places for a final spot in the 200 metres butterfly she took solace from the fact that her time of 2:11.78 was a personal best.
Highlights of the day included Germany's world-beating 4 x 50 metres medley relay team, Britain's Mark Foster in his 50 metres freestyle final victory, and a dead heat to the men's 400 metres freestyle involving Russian Yuri Prilukov and Italy's European champion Massimiliano Rosolino.
Equally exhilarating were championship records by Slovakian Blaz Medvesek in the men's 200 backstroke and Sievinen in the 200 medley IM decider.
Ireland's Sinéad Tyrrell (200 metres butterfly) Michael Williamson (200 metres breaststroke) Chantal Gibney (third in her heat in the 100 freestyle) and Julie Douglas (seventh in the heats for the same event) failed to progress as did Stephen Manley (400 metres freestyle), Claire Hogan (200 metres IM), Melanie Nocher (100 metres backstroke), Donal O'Neill and Ó Riada (100 butterfly).
