Euro boost for Cooney in 50m backstroke

OLYMPIC swimmer Aisling Cooney tuned up for her trip to the European Short Course Swimming Championships in Eindhoven next week with a win in the 50m backstroke event at the Irish Short Course Championships in Salthill, Galway yesterday.

Swimming for the ESB club, Cooney held off the challenge of Aer Lingus teammates Amy McVeigh and Niamh McDonnell to secure the morale-boosting win. The winning time was 28.49 – just .22 outside Cooney’s own Irish record time.

The four-day event kicked off with a gold for Sunday’s Well club man Dan Sweeney in the 50m breaststroke, streaking home in a time of 30.78 seconds. Conor Turner claimed a win for Aer Lingus in the 1500m freestyle, clocking 15.47.78, while Niamh O’Sullivan from the Kingdom club took the 800m freestyle (8.52.13).

A total of 41 teams from all four provinces are in action in Salthill this week as well as visiting swimmers from Dubai and the UK.

Other winners on the opening day included 2009 World Championship swimmer Niamh Bryson in the 50m breaststroke (35.08) and William Ensor (Westwood) in the 50m backstroke (27.40).

European Youth Olympian Nicholas Quinn and 2010 European Junior squad member Shani Stallard have yet to enter the pool.