McMahon rounds off campaign with Irish record

Sycerika McMahon clocked another Irish record as she rounded off her campaign at the World Swimming Championships in the 100 metres freestyle this morning.

The Co Down youngster finished first in her heat in Barcelona but despite claiming another national record with 56.19 seconds, her time was not good enough to qualify for the semi-finals later in the afternoon.

McMahon, who will now enjoy a brief break before taking up a scholarship with Texas A&M later this month, was delighted with her performance, not least since the 100 metres is not one of her stronger suits.

“It was a really fun swim, just to go out there and do the 100 freestyle, not an event I’d usually swim, it felt good and I’m happy with the result” she said afterwards.

Fiona Doyle was also swimming in somewhat uncharted waters as she secured a top 20 place in the 200m breaststroke. "Twentieth is a lot better than I thought I would have been" Doyle said.

“The 200 is a learning curve for me, I’m not really a fan of it, but I just have to go back and see what I can do to make my time faster, I think within the next year it’s definitely going to improve from where it is.”