Texas-bound McMahon clocks new record in Barcelona

Sycerika McMahon set an Irish senior record in the 100m freestyle heats on her final day of competition at the World Swimming Championships in Barcelona.

McMahon led the field home in 56.19 to better Clare Dawson’s 2009 record of 56.32. “It was a really fun swim, just to go out there and do the 100 freestyle, not an event I’d usually swim, it felt good and I’m happy with the result,” said McMahon, who begins a swimming scholarship with Texas A&M later this month.

Fiona Doyle finished just outside her 200m breaststroke record of 2:30.21 in a time of 2:30.49 which leaves her in the top 20 in the world. She admitted: “20th is a lot better than I thought I’d have been, the 200 (breaststroke) is a learning curve for me. I just have to go back and see what I can do to make my time faster.”

The Portmarnock SC swimmer now turns attention to the 50m breaststroke: I’m currently ranked 10th. I would love to get in to another semi-final and then to see where we can go from there.”

Today Barry Murphy swims in the 50m freestyle heats, bidding to break his national record of 22.14 set in 2009.

At the US Open in Irvine, California, Andrew Meegan continued his good form finishing sixth the 400m freestyle A final in 3:55.95. Nicholas Quinn and Dan Sweeney set personal bests in the 200m breaststroke.