Danielle Hill was impressive in this morning’s 50m Backstroke Heats, progressing to the semi-final in thirteenth place overall.
The Larne swimmer finished fourth in her heat clocking 28.03, just .34 of a second off her Irish record of 27.69 and will swim in her first world championships semi-final this afternoon.
Speaking after the race Hill said ‘I think waking up this morning, before even stepping foot in the arena, I was more confident, whether that was a nervous swim on Monday (100m Backstroke) or whatever it was, I had to move on pretty quickly. I woke up this morning, felt like a completely different person in the water and so yeah that swim, kudos to that, I’m happy. It’s hard not to be inspired by the girls and Dan of course, I’m in a much better place than I was 48 hours ago so yeah, I’m happy.’
The 50m Backstroke semi-final takes place today at 12.36pm (Ireland).
Also, in action this morning in Japan, Shane Ryan made his championship debut in the 100m Freestyle.
Ryan touched second in his heat in 49.04, for thirty third place overall. It was the National Centre Dublin swimmers second fastest time ever outside of his Irish record of 48.68 in the event, pleased with the result he said, ‘I wanted to be a bit faster, get under 49 seconds, I got 49.0 which I can’t really complain about. I’m looking forward to the medley relay (on Sunday) because I think I know what I can fix there, get a 48.0 and help us have a really good shot to try and qualify that relay for the Olympics’.
Later today, Daniel Wiffen will compete in the 800m Freestyle Final. Wiffen advanced yesterday in fourth place in a new Irish Record of 7:43.81. The stacked final includes the full podium from the Tokyo Olympic Games as well as other world and Olympic medallists.
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Wednesday 26th July Results
Women 50m Backstroke Danielle Hill 23.03 (13th)
Men 100m Freestyle Shane Ryan 49.04 (33rd)
Wednesday 26th July Schedule
Men 800m Freestyle Final Daniel Wiffen 12.02pm (IRE)
Women 50m Backstroke Semi-Final Danielle Hill 12.36pm (IRE)
The World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka is the first of three opportunities for Irish swimmers to secure individual Olympic places, the second being the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar in February 2024, and the third being the Irish Open Swimming Championships in May 2024.
For relays, the top three teams in Olympic relay events in Fukuoka will confirm places for Paris, with the remaining thirteen teams coming from the top times in Fukuoka and the Doha World Aquatics Championships.
Swimming at the World Aquatics Championships will take place from Sunday 23rd to Sunday 30th July.
