2018 IRISH SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, December 6th – Sunday, December 9th
- Lagan Valley LeisurePlex, Lisburn
- SCM
- Meet Site
- Psych Sheet
- SwimSwam Meet Preview
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap
- Meet Results – 2018 Irish SC Championships on Meet Mobile
The 2018 Irish Short Course National Championships concluded today in Lisburn, but not before a total of 18 records fell over the 4-day affair.
Tonight, National Centre Limerick’s Eoin Corby set the tone with a new Irish Junior Record in the men’s 200m breaststroke. 16-year-old Corby nailed a time of 2:11.96 to take gold in the event, but also smash the previous IJR of 2:14.26 that’s been on the books since 1998.
Cracking his 3rd Irish Junior Record of these championships was Bangor swimmer Jack McMillan. In earning his 3rd title, McMillan blasted a time of 1:44.49 for the 200m freestyle win, hacking almost 2 seconds off of his own 2017 record of 1:46.32.
Additional records fell in the final race of the night, the men’s 200m medley relay. McMillan, Jordan Sloan, David Thompson and Curtis Coulter comprised the Bangor team that fired off a new National Record time of 1:40.28 for gold.
Taking bronze, the Limerick foursome of Aaron Carroll, Uiseann Cooke, Jeremy O’Connor and Finn McGeever collectively clocked a time of 1:45.11 for a new Irish Junior Record.
18-year-old Mona McSharry, who already had a humongous meet with her 50m free, 100m free and 100m IM National Records, represented the only swimmer of tonight’s women’s 200m freestyle final to dip under the 2-minute threshold. McSharry produced a time of 1:59.40 for the gold.
Following the close of the 2018 Championships, National Performance Director Jon Rudd said “It’s very encouraging to see how far we have come since this event last year. Although five of our premier athletes are away preparing for the World SC Championships in China, we have seen a number of junior and senior records broken at this meet. However, the primary indicator of progress for the nation as a whole is that of the number of athletes at this competition compared to last year, with the qualifying standards remaining roughly the same at 2017. The depth to the heats and the higher requirement to perform to make an ‘A’ Final is something quite new and it’s a critical mass such as this that will see us progress as a nation over the years to come. Culturally things have shifted. The club with only one or two qualifiers are now here. Athletes with only one qualifying time are now here. Our athletes based outside of Ireland are now here. All of this is most encouraging and gives us a great platform for the long course season ahead of us in 2019”