Brendan Hyland set a new Irish record, but narrowly missed out on Olympic qualification at the World Swimming Championships in Gwangju today.
Hyland swam a time of 1:56:55 in placing 6th in his semi-final of the 200m butterfly. However, he was just 7-hundreths of a second outside the Tokyo qualifying mark.
His semi-final time was the second time in a day he'd set a new Irish best time, after swimming a 1:57:21 in the heats.
Hyland will have another chance to make the Tokyo 2020 grade at the Swim Ireland Olympic Trials in April of next year.
Speaking after his semi-final, Hyland said, "I’m disappointed obviously, it would have been unbelievable just to wrap it up, it’s encouraging, it’s a big swim, I mean it’s the best swim of my life but it’s .07 I could have done with, it’s hard."
Darragh Greene also set a new Irish record today - this time in the 50m breaststroke heats.
He swam a 26.94 in progressing from the heats, becoming the first Irishman to go beneath 27-seconds in the event. Greene swam 27.14 - his second-fastest career time - in placing 4th in his semi-final and 10th overall.
Greene was pleased overall with his showing today in Korea, "Looking at where I came in, I was around 20th, so to move up the rankings, I’m happy.
"Two good swims today, I’m really looking forward to the 200m (Breaststroke) in the next few days. I’m looking forward to giving it a shot and seeing where I’m at, especially on this stage, it’s a fast pool."
Greene returns to the Gwangju pool on Friday for the heats of the 200m breaststroke. The Longford swimmer has already attained Olympic qualification in the event at the Irish Open in March.
Tomorrow sees Curtis Coulter make his championship debut in the heats of the 100m freestyle. While Ellen Walshe, Niamh Coyne, Robbie Powell and Conor Ferguson combine their talents in the 4x100m mixed medley relay.
