European Swimming Championships 2010

Marvinthefish

First day of the championships in Budapest today and several Irish swimmers in action. (Well, first day of swimming in the pool. I know we had some open-water swimmers last week) http://www.europeanchampionships.org/Budapest_2010/

Ryan Harrison, Grainne Murphy, Andrew Bree, Barry Murphy and Melanie Nocher all swam in the heats this morning.

Grainne Murphy and Nocher through to 400m IM final and 200m Back semi-final respectively.

Barry Murphy placed 35th in the 100m Breast. Bree was 43rd in the same event. Murphy has tweeted that he thinks it was a good start to the meet.

sock puppet

The French contrive to lose yet another 4x100m relay... How they can underachieve like this with such talented sprinters is a mystery.

SarahBM

Completely forgot about the Championships! what a muppet I am

best of luck the Irish boys and girls.

Melanie Noche came 13th with a time of 2:13.32 in the 200m backstroke fair play.

And also well done to Grainne Murphy who came 7th in the 4 X100 IM with a time of 4:43.45

well done!!!

SarahBM

Ryan Harrison to swim in the 200m freestyle heat 4

he clocked 1:49.80, 4th in his heat.

Through to the Semi Final this evening, placing 11th over all.

Best of Luck Ryan!

Edit: and best of luck to Andrew Bree swimming in the 2nd heat of the 200m IM soon

SarahBM

bree didnt swim.

Clare Dawson came 4th in her heat. I hope her time was fast enough.

Marvinthefish

oooh Ryan Harrison just missed out on reaching the final of the 200m free. Joint 10th place in a time of 1:49.04. Eighth place was 1:48.92. Looked really good in the last 50m and looked like he was hanging onto the metaphoric coat-tails of the leaders in the heat. Real disappointment I'd say, but improved his time from the heats by 0.76 seconds.

Why did Bree not start?

SarahBM

Hard luck for Ryan.
No idea why Bree didnt swim. didnt hear anything on the news.

according to RTE he withdrew in order to concentrate on the 200m breast stroke.
http://www.rte.ie/sport/swimming/2010/0810/european_budapest_harrisonr.html

swim2

Grainne Murphy just qualified for the 800 freestyle final, fastest in her heat, beating the olympic champion(Rebecca Adlington) qualifying.
Eurosport talking about how she will be one to watch for the future. She is in the middle lane for the final.
Great news!!

swim2

http://www.omegatiming.com/swimming/racearchives/2010/Budapest2010/C74A_ResSummary_20_Heats_Women_800_Free.pdf

swim2

Wednesday, 11 August 2010 11:37 Seventeen-year-old Grainne Murphy produced one of the most outstanding swims seen by an Irish competitor in recent years when she qualified fastest for the women's 800 metres freestyle final at the European Swimming Championships in Budapest, Hungary, writes RTÉ's John Kenny.
Murphy, a three-time gold medallist at the Junior European Championships last year in Prague and who made the 400m individual medley final on Monday where she finished seventh, pulled out of the 200m individual medley heats today to concentrate fully on the 800m free. Her tactics proved fruitful as she produced a sensational heat to claim not only the heat win, but also to qualify as the fastest of the eight swimmers for tomorrow night's final.

Behind her was Britain's Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington and Federica Pellegrini of Italy, the women's 200m and 400m freestyle world record holder.


Murphy has been playing down her medal chances, however, saying afterwards that she felt that the medal favourites were holding themselves back while she was going all out.

Her heat winning time of 8m28.91s smashed the Irish record by eight seconds.

Meanwhile Andrew Bree had a disappointing morning. His poor meet continued as he failed to even make the semi-finals of his top event, the men's 200m breaststroke, while Melanie Nocher also failed to progress in the 100m backstroke

sock puppet

Great swim from Murphy. That makes her the 4th fastest swimmer in Europe this year so definitely a medal contender.

SarahBM

I missed the race!
but thank the stars for Sky +, I will watch it now!

Well done grainne!

Just watched the 800m heats! wow! it was soooo good to hear Drew Gordon talk about Murphy for pretty much the whole race! delighted for Grainne! I hope she does well!

sounded like drew was calling her "Groin Murphy" though. surely he can get the pronunciation of her name right like!

Watch your back Pelligrinii!!!
Come on Grainne! and the other lads swimming tomorrow!

swim2

Ryan Harrison and Barry Murphy, swimming in the same heat, failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the men's 100 metres freestyle at the European Swimming Championships in Budapest, writes John Kenny.
Harrison registered a time of 51.16 seconds while Murphy was slightly slower in 51.23 seconds.
It is Harrisons last swim and his next major meet is the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Delhi where he will be part of the Northern Ireland squad.

Murphy though was using the 100 freestyle heats as a tune up for his big sprint events, the 50 breast stroke on Friday and the 50 freestyle on Saturday.
Coming into the meet in Hungary, the 22-year-old Dubliner who is based in the University of Michigan, was ranked in the top six in Europe in the 50 Breast stroke and his first mission is to get out of the heats and into the top 16 semi-finalists and in his own words Murphy was 'taking it one race at a time.'
Later today, 17-year-old Grainne Murphy will compete in the final of the women's 800 metres Freestyle where she is the fastest qualifier.
The Wexford teenager however is in with some of the world's elite 800 freestylers. In fact it's a veritable whose who lining up.
Along side the Irish sensation is Britain's Rebecca Adlington, the Olympic Champion, Lottie Friis of Denmark, the world champion and International superstar Frederica Pelligrini of Italy, the world record holder over 200 and 400 metres free.
The women's 800 freestyle final is off at 4pm Irish time.


Best of luck to Grainne later today. I see the hours she puts in training and hope she does well

bamboozling

Gráinne murphy, so close. Just missed out on the medal. Such a brave performence from a young star. An unbelieveable prospect for the future. She has the potential to win a hatful of Olympic and Worlds medals. Well done

SitUbuSit

bamboozling wrote: »

Gráinne murphy, so close. Just missed out on the medal. Such a brave performence from a young star. An unbelieveable prospect for the future. She has the potential to win a hatful of Olympic and Worlds medals. Well done

5 hundreds of a second away from the bronze....so close!

Congrats on a great performance and another Irish record!

swim2

so so close!!
She will still be smiling coming out of the pool and can hold her head high

Bottleopener

Wow! That was close.

Fantastic performance, well done Grainne

LeeroyJones

i'm no swimming expert, but wow, for a 17 year old to achieve 4th in the Euros is a super achievement in any sport. Superb stuff!

at what age would a swimmer be at peak performances? obviously there cannot be one rule for all, but in general terms

sock puppet

LeeroyJones wrote: »

i'm no swimming expert, but wow, for a 17 year old to achieve 4th in the Euros is a super achievement in any sport. Superb stuff!

at what age would a swimmer be at peak performances? obviously there cannot be one rule for all, but in general terms

Mid twenties or thereabouts. Sprinters maybe a little older

swim2

Grainne will be gutted not to have got a medal, as will her coach Ronald Claes. But it will also drive her and she is a real potential for the olympics and world championships.

I work near UL and see the hours she has been putting in since she moved to Limerick aged 13 to train in a 50m pool

swim2

Grainne is flying through the 1500m heat at the moment. She should make the final tomorrow.

swim2

She just won her heat, great swim!!
Waiting now for other 2 heats to run through to see where she will be for final tomorrow
Barry Murphy through to semi final. Melanie Nocher and Claire Dawson didnt make it out of the heats unfortunately

sock puppet

That's the second fastest time in the world this year!

SarahBM

Im delighted Irish swimming is on the up!!!

any idea where the common wealth games are on and who we will be sending?

swim2

2010 Commonwealth Games Team Selected The Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games Council has announced the names of the 10 swimmers to represent Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October 2010.
They are: Men: Andrew Bree (Ards), Conor Leaney (Larne), Michael Dawson (Ards), Ryan Harrison (City of Derry) and Laurence McGivern (Newry and Mourne, parasports). Women: Bethany Carson (Lisburn City), Chelsey Wilson (Enniskillen Lakelanders), Clare Dawson (Bangor), Melanie Nocher (Ards) and Sycerika McMahon (Leander).
Accompanying coaches will be Nelson Lindsay (Ards) and Kate Wylie (Leander).
After the announcement, Swim Ulster president Frank Stevens said: ''I am delighted that so many swimmers have been given this opportunity and that all three of our heroes from the Commonwealth Youth Games have made it to the main Games.''
The entire Northern Ireland multi-sport team will now get together for a preparatory weekend (September 10-11) and depart for India on Monday September 27.''This is one occasion I hope we have at least one late arrival,'' said President Stevens.
The generosity and vision of the Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games Council 2010 has enabled Northern Ireland swimmers to compete in all possible relay events for the first time and brings that hope dramatically closer to realisation.

swim2

Murphy makes another European final

Friday, 13 August 2010 12:21
Another day and another final for Ireland's Grainne Murphy, who took an astonishing 18 seconds off the Irish record in the heats of the demanding 1,500metres freestyle at the European Swimming Championships in Budapest, writes RTÉ's John Kenny.

In fact, it was good morning for the Irish as Barry Murphy advanced to tonight's semi-finals of the men's 50m breaststroke, while Melanie Nocher won her heat of the women's 200 freestyle, but narrowly failed to advance to the last 16.

Grainne Murphy showed no ill effects from her 800m swim yesterday where she just missed out on bronze. Her time of 16m10.32s places the 17-year-old Wexford-born girl as the fastest qualifier by two and a half seconds and six seconds quicker than Denmark's Lotte Friis, winner of the 800m title yesterday.


The 1,500m is a bit of an unknown quantity as many of the open water swimmers take part and it is also not an Olympic event for women, so Murphy could well be in with a chance of a medal and if Friis is suffering after her 800m win yesterday, Murphy could well be in contention to take the gold medal in tomorrow afternoon's final.

This evening Barry Murphy goes in the men's 50m breaststroke final. It wasn't a bad swim from him this morning, but the last few metres hurt and he has a bit to find to make tomorrow's decider.

Claire Dawson was Ireland's other competitor today, but she was visibly upset not to make the last 16 of the women's 200m freestyle

The finals tonight are off at 4pm with Barry Murphy's semi-final off at 5.20pm Irish time.

Diamondmaker

Am I a bit of a pessimist when I recall the last female Irish swimmer to make such insane gains ?

Regardless of any history or alluded parallels, who makes such gains ?

is this not a bit suss ?? Whats her back ground thats such gains or official time gains are being recorded?

Is this too good to be true ?

swim2

Hi

She hasnt come out of nowhere like someone else you are referring to!!!

I know that swimming has a bad name but not all swimmers should be tarred with the same brush.
For those of us who following swimming regularly Grainne Muprhy has been on the scene for years and seen as a hugh talent potential.

She has won medals at European junior level in the last few years and has been breaking irish records.
Dope testing is extremely strict nowdays, more so than years ago

Marvinthefish

Men's 50m Breaststoke semi-finals on now. Come on Barry Murphy!!:)

swim2

he qualifed for the final. Well done!! The Murphy's are doing well!!!

Marvinthefish

Barry Murphy:

Great time of 27.60! Second in his heat and 6th overall makes it into the final.

sock puppet

It's a pity his best event is a non-Olympic one. Hope he does well in the 50m free too.

lonestargirl

@ Diamondmaker

I clearly remember the first time I saw Grainne Murphy swim. I swam for Wexford and we were having our annual 'small fry' (U12s) gala. I was 15-16 and acted as stroke judge, she was 6 or 7 and just blew everybody else out of the water even at that age, finishing her fly when everyone else was only 1/3 of the way down the pool!! She's been very committed to her swimming for a long time and is great to see her (and her family's) sacrifice is starting to pay off.

mitresize5

agreed

I swim in the pool in UL early mornings and evenings and have been following her progress over the years and shes been ear marked for this type of stage from a long way off. To see her going up and down the lanes is like watching poetry in motion

With the sacrifices her whole family have made in relocating to Limerick I delighted for all of them. This really is a good news story and should be celebrated as such

Roll on London

p.s. Howw long does she have to be in Limerick before we can claim her as one of ours!!

swim2

It might be a while yet before Limerick can claim her. She is very proud to be from Wexford.
When she swims in national competitions she competes for limerick...

lonestargirl

Also, she's from county Wexford but swam for New Ross swimming club not Wexford swimming club .

Pisco Sour

Not an expert on swimming, but always love watching the big championships. Have been a bit out of tune with regards these and didnt know much about Grainne at all, so didnt even know about her race yesterday. Can somebody post a link of where I can watch her 800 free final?

Really looking forward to the 1500 final tomorrow now.

Also I was just wondering if somebody could give me a list of all Irish Medals winners at World and European (Long Course) Championships? Just want to see how Grainne's performances stack up in the history of Irish Swimming.

P.S. Dont bother listing Smiths medals as I dont recognise them.

swim2

There are another few to watch out for in the years to come, Syrenika Mc Mahon from Ulster(Leander Swim club I think & dont quote me on the spelling of her first name!!) and Shauna Smith who moved from Germany to train in Limerick (one of her parents is Irish and the other German-not sure which and she grew up in Germany so its a big move to make) who both have good potential.
Syrenika broke some Irish records at the Euro Junior championships this summer(some set by Grainne Murphy last summer) so the future is very bright for Irish swimming...

Diamondmaker

swim2 wrote: »

Hi

She hasnt come out of nowhere like someone else you are referring to!!!

I know that swimming has a bad name but not all swimmers should be tarred with the same brush.
For those of us who following swimming regularly Grainne Muprhy has been on the scene for years and seen as a hugh talent potential.

She has won medals at European junior level in the last few years and has been breaking irish records.
Dope testing is extremely strict nowdays, more so than years ago

im just keen to know, is it not unusual for a swimmer, or any athlete to make such gains, how long between the times she previously set?

Diamondmaker

lonestargirl wrote: »

@ Diamondmaker

I clearly remember the first time I saw Grainne Murphy swim. I swam for Wexford and we were having our annual 'small fry' (U12s) gala. I was 15-16 and acted as stroke judge, she was 6 or 7 and just blew everybody else out of the water even at that age, finishing her fly when everyone else was only 1/3 of the way down the pool!! She's been very committed to her swimming for a long time and is great to see her (and her family's) sacrifice is starting to pay off.

yeah and thats why she is now able to compete at this level, natural talent and born to swim you suggest... But still, are such gains, once you do get to Olympic standards, not unusual ?

Hey maybe swimmers make these sorts of gains all the time, Im only asking ?

cheers

Pisco Sour

Diamondmaker wrote: »

yeah and thats why she is now able to compete at this level, natural talent and born to swim you suggest... But still, are such gains, once you do get to Olympic standards, not unusual ?

Hey maybe swimmers make these sorts of gains all the time, Im only asking ?

cheers

Huge gains are very common, in most sports, when the swimmer/athlete is at a very young age and is only making the step up to the senior ranks. You develop fast at a young age. Then the incremental improvements become less and less.

Huge gains at the age of 26 for a Swimmer on the other hand..........

You cant even compare the 2 situations. They are worlds apart!

And dont let one bad apple ruin your enjoyment of the sport.

sock puppet

Diamondmaker wrote: »

yeah and thats why she is now able to compete at this level, natural talent and born to swim you suggest... But still, are such gains, once you do get to Olympic standards, not unusual ?

Hey maybe swimmers make these sorts of gains all the time, Im only asking ?

cheers

There are a few other swimmers who've made big gains. Lacourt is one of the biggest stories of these championships and he's really made big gains the past year too. Stephanie Rice made huge gains in 2008 leading up to the Olympics. They're just a couple of examples. I'd hate to think that someone of 15-16 was taking performance enhancing drugs.

SarahBM

look at the young british swimmers like Adlington and Miley made great gains at the olympics and are still making gains. and the likes of Sarah Sjostrom and Anastasia Chaun. they are young girls making gains in every event they swim, like so I dont see why its unusual for Murphy to be making gains.
like someone else said, if she was nearer 30 and starting to make gains, it would be a different story.

lonestargirl

Diamondmaker wrote: »

im just keen to know, is it not unusual for a swimmer, or any athlete to make such gains, how long between the times she previously set?

• 8 seconds off a 100m time would be unusual, 8 secs off an 800m not so much. Swimming is about both technique and fitness. Let's say she has been working hard on her turns this year, 800m is 16 lengths and 15 turns, improving each turn by half a second gives you 7.5 secs over the whole race.
• She probably hasn't tapered for a competition since last year's European juniors when she was 16
• This is the first year she is old enough to compete as a senior
• She had the best ever performance for an Irish swimmer at last year's European juniors, with 3 gold and 1 bronze.

hotmail.com

Any way of watching her race at 4 online, I don't have Eurosport.

sock puppet

hotmail.com wrote: »

Any way of watching her race at 4 online, I don't have Eurosport.

There should be a stream on myp2p.eu under other sports. You might need sopcast though I'm not sure as I'm not watching online. Better hurry up!

Sport101

http://www.everythingon.tv/viewChannel.php?channelId=21

hotmail.com

What lane is she in?

sock puppet

hotmail.com wrote: »

What lane is she in?

Five.

Gold looks a little out of her reach at this stage.

Sport101

4
this hungarian link is probably better
http://streamer.carnation.hu/mtvonlinem1

sock puppet

Sport101 wrote: »

4
this hungarian link is probably better
http://streamer.carnation.hu/mtvonlinem1

I may need glasses after all.