Hyland still in reckoning for Olympic qualification
By Daire Walsh
Following their record-breaking performance in yesterday morning’s heats, Knocklyon native Brendan Hyland and his Irish team-mates went on to finish seventh in the Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay final at the LEN European Aquatics Championships in Budapest yesterday evening.
That performance keeps them in the hunt to become the first Irish swimming relay team to reach the Summer Games since 1972.
That team of Hyland, Shane Ryan, Darragh Greene and Jack McMillan together with the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay outfit remain still in contention for the four remaining spots that are up for grabs in the Olympic relays.
Yesterday morning, Hyland and his international compatriots clocked 3:34.62 in a heat race – surpassing the record of 3:35.23 that was previously set at the 2019 World Championships in Gwanju, South Korea.
Their record-shattering display continued a trend that has been set by the Irish squad at these European Championships.
In the Hungarian city, new national senior times were set in every relay event that Ireland competed in.
Templeogue Swimming Club’s Ellen Walshe – in unison with Danielle Hill, Mona McSharry and Victoria Catterson – set a new Women’s 4x100m Medley record.
Their time of 4:02.93 was almost 10 seconds quicker than the previous one.