Masterful Murphy smashes Irish record to qualify in style

GRÁINNE MURPHY was the star turn on day three of the European Swimming Championships in Budapest yesterday.

Not only did she smash her own Irish senior 800m freestyle record by almost eight seconds (8.28.91), but she completely dominated her heat and is now the fastest qualifier for tonight’s 800m freestyle final.

The 17-year-old’s PB (and Irish record) before today was 8.36.63, which she set last July at the European Junior Championships in Prague.

But yesterday, she catapulted herself onto the senior stage of European swimming in style. With a split time of 4:14.84 at the halfway mark, it was obvious she was going to produce something special. Holding 1:04 100m split times throughout the race, with a 1:03 on her last 100 metres, the Wexford swimmer dominated a race with world champion Lotte Friis of Denmark in the line-up.

A delighted Murphy said: “It was an amazing swim, I’m really happy with my performance, but Lotte is well able to go faster in the final so we’ll have to see what happens.

“I have a day’s rest now, so my plan is to get as much sleep and rest as possible. I had a fair idea how fast the others were going but I just focused on my race which was really, really good. I started off strong and was able to hold on throughout the whole swim.”

Murphy goes into today’s final at 4pm (Irish time) and faces fierce competition from Lotte Friis, Rebecca Adlington and Federica Pellegrini.

Meanwhile, there was disappointment yesterday for Andrew Bree in the 200m breaststroke.

The Helen’s Bay swimmer, who now trains full time with the Trojans in Southern California, finished 17th overall in 2:15.02, but it was not enough to advance him to the semi-final round.

“I’m disappointed, you know, it was just a disappointing morning – didn’t feel as smooth as I’d hoped,” said a disillusioned Bree after the race.

“ I can’t dwell on this because if I do, it’s going to affect every other part of my preparations. I do have the Commonwealth Games coming up in October and then re-focusing on the big one next year – World Championships in Shanghai.”

Twenty two year-old Melanie Nocher finished her heat of the 100m backstroke in a respectable 1.03.46, slightly outside her PB and she has one more event remaining – the 200m freestyle tomorrow.

Irish yesterday

Heats: Men’s 200m breaststroke - A Bree 2.15.02, 17th place

Women’s 100m backstroke: M Nocher 1.03.46, 27th place

Women’s 800m freestyle: G Murphy 8.28.91 (Fastest qualifier for final).