No luck for the Irish in Budapest
It was a case of what might have been for the Irish swimmers competing on day three of the European Swimming Championships in Budapest this morning.
First into the pool was Andrew Bree in his favoured event, the 200m breaststroke. Bree is the current Irish record holder and is ranked 6th in Europe in the event after finishing 5th at the Commonwealth Games.
He finished his heat in a time of 2.18.11, which was nearly four seconds off his best time and it placed him 28th out of 41 swimmers.
Next up was Melanie Nocher in the 100m backstroke, an event in which she is also the Irish record holder. Melanie swam her fastest ever morning time in the heat, a 1.04.99. This was also .02 off her best overall time in the event. However today it wasn’t good enough for Melanie to progress any further.
Tomorrow there is only one Irish swimmer in action - Barry Murphy in the 100m freestyle.
Murphy, who is on scholarship in the University of Tennessee, is arguably Ireland’s best swimmer at the moment having broken two Irish senior records at the Irish Nationals in Lisburn last weekend.
The Irish team will be hoping he can perform to his full potential following the disappointing results so far this week.
