Irish freestyle relay team fail to qualify for Games

SWIMMING EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPSIRELAND'S 4x200 metres women's freestyle relay team finished sixth in the final at the European swimming championship in Debrecen, Hungary, yesterday but their time of 8.09.15 will not earn them a place in the London Olympics.

The Irish quartet of Sycerika McMahon, Melanie Nocher, Nuala Murphy and Bethany Carson qualified in seventh place for the final (8.13.30) and improved that time by almost four seconds but were still outside their personal best (8.07.66). They needed to beat the latter mark to have a chance of making London. Ireland will still have a shot at qualifying in the 4x100m medley on Sunday.

In the 200m breaststroke semi-finals, both Shani Stallard (2:32.11) and Fiona Doyle (2:33.97) could not lower their times posted earlier, finishing 15th and 16th overall. For 18-year-old Stallard, competing in her first senior international competition, a semi-final has been a great result.

So far, all eight squad members have now made either a semi-final or final at these championships making it Ireland’s most successful European Championships ever.

In action today are yesterday’s relay quartet, McMahon, Nocher, Carson and Murphy, who compete in the heats of the 200m freestyle. Murphy will also swim the heats of the 1,500m freestyle. Karl Burdis is in the heats of the 200m backstroke.