Five golds for magical McMahon

Irish swimmer Sycerika McMahon won five gold medals on the opening day of the Irish Short Course swimming championships in Lisburn yesterday.

The European bronze medallist was the star of day one and picked up her first gold in the 800m freestyle in a time of 8:50.86, over five seconds ahead of NAC High Performance Centre swimmer Antoinette Neamt (8:55.62). Neamt, at just 11-years-old, is a member of Swim Ireland’s National Youth Squad.

McMahon went on to win the 100m breaststroke (1:08.30), 200m butterfly (2:13.71) and 100m freestyle (56.07) but her most impressive swim of the night was in the 200m individual medley when in winning gold she set a new Irish senior record of 2:12.35.