2024 IRISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS & OLYMPIC TRIALS
- Wednesday, May 22nd – Sunday, May 26th
- Sport Ireland National Aquatic Centre, Dublin, Ireland
- LCM (50m)
- Olympic Qualification Policy
- SwimSwam Preview
- Day 1 Recap|Day 2 Recap|Day 3 Recap | Day 4 Recap
- Results (when available)
Last night marked the final session of action at the 2024 Irish Open Championships/Olympic Trials in Dublin.
Although no new names were added to the list of qualifiers for this summer’s Olympic Games, Ellen Walshe successfully added another event to her individual lineup for Paris.
Contesting the women’s 400m IM, 22-year-old Walshe fired off a time of 4:38.05, a result only .10 outside of her own national record of 4;37.94 she registered 3 weeks ago at the Leinster Championships.
Walshe is already qualified for the Olympics in the 200m IM so she is now a double-IM threat when the Games come to pass.
Speaking at the conclusion of the Championships, Swim Ireland Performance Director Jon Rudd said, “After what has arguably been the best five days of domestic swimming racing that this island has seen, we can all feel highly satisfied with where Irish swimming is right now.
“World Aquatics raised the bar quite considerably after Tokyo 2021 as to what it takes to be an Olympian, and we have a group of athletes who responded to this – some making the grade, and some agonisingly close – the smallest of margins – with seven Irish Senior Records and eight Irish Junior Records written and re-written across these days, the moments that matter.
“We have a strong Olympic team and European Championships team that will come out of this final Trials, and we can look forward to those announcements in the days to come – followed swiftly by a highly charged and exciting summer for Irish aquatics.”
Irish Individual Qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Through the End of Trials
- Daniel Wiffen – 400m/800m/1500m free
- Ellen Walshe – 200m/400m IM
- Mona McSharry – 100m breast
- Danielle Hill – 50m free, 100m back
- Tom Fannon – 50m free
The Dr is deluded. Like National Centre investment, his personal performance & the system he presides over needs to be under question. The marketing, spin & illusion, is ‘arguably‘ the greatest trait of his time.
Wiffen & McSharry in UK & US. Walshe & Hill work with Irish Club Coaches. Fannon, to be fair did the time but is in Ireland c. 2 yrs, having realised he wouldn’t qualify for a GB team, and is a former Rudd Swimmer.
Wiffen & Ferguson moved to UK, having been in the Dublin Centre, McCusker always in UK or US. Greene moved down under to Australia in Jan & Ryan went back to US in March to get ready for this meet.
Limerick Centre… Read more »
Personally I think the “Dr” has been incredibly effective, if it wasn’t for his stellar work & exemplary leadership, then maybe our best swimmers would not have gone the extra miles to get the best training they had available to them in their clubs, & worldwide.
Keep it up Swim Ireland, golden age of Irish Swimming is now on display, showcasing the best of Irish clubs & high calibre programmes available to irish swimmers overseas
How does Irish qualification work? Is Conor Ferguson officially out of olympics? Very sad to see him miss by a small margin again. Is there no way for Irish swimmers to hit QQA after the nationals?
Theres always the relays that they can use to bring some extra swimmers
Is the men’s relay team going to Paris? There was a question mark until now.
How is Wiffen Irish?
Because he’s from Northern Ireland (part of the island of Ireland). 😞
Holds joint citizenship. I think his maternal grandparents are Irish, and he was raised in NI, so I don’t think his Irishness should be undermined or questioned. GB definitely missed out on one though, been told by a few people he originally wanted to swim for us but wasn’t given the time of day – glad he found his feet with Swim Ireland and eventually found a good set up at Loughborough. Would love to see him win in Paris, good luck Dan.
Being from Northern Ireland we have duel citizenship. So either or both British and Irish.
Generally GB won’t take athletes from NI unless they are world class.
Like Jack McMillan is NI but he is at Uni in Scotland and swam for his uni at the British Trials. He wouldn’t swim for his club from NI because GB classes it as Irish, although NI is part of the UK. The “mainland” fail to recognise this.
Someone once said, why is it team GB rather than team UK, considering the amount of athletes from NI in the teams.