18-year old Irish swimmer Grainne Murphy has been confirmed as a member of the 2010 European “E-Stars” squad that will travel to Atlanta in December for the Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool competition.
Murphy is one of the world’s brightest young swimmers, and was the 2010 European Long Course silver medalist in the 1500 free and ranked 3rd overall in the event last year. She was 13-seconds slower than that time of 16:01 this year.
Thus far, swimmers from 14 different countries have been confirmed for the meet.
Meanwhile, Irish High Performance Director Peter Banks is rethinking his approach to the 2012 Olympics. Thus far, only breaststroker Barry Murphy has earned an Olympic “A” qualifying time, and Banks had expected that his squad would have progressed further than that at this point. The Irish squad didn’t swim as expected at the World Championships, and as such they are still seeking more Olympic qualifications towards meeting their stated goal of putting a swimmer in the finals at the London Games.
As a result, Banks will send Grainne Murphy, Nuala Murphy, Shani Stallard, Sycerika McMahon, Niamh O’Sullivan, Beth Carson, Karl Burdis, Claire Dawson, Melanie Nocher, and Ashling Cooney to the Dutch open in Eindhoven, the Netherlands from December 2nd-4th to give them both more long course racing experience and another Olympic qualifying opportunity.
For the American-based swimmers, Barry Murphy, Andrew Bree, Fiona Doyle, and Tennessee Volunteer Ryan Harrison, the equivalent meet will be USA Swimming winter nationals, which are being held in long course meters specially this year for athletes to earn a chance at Olympic qualifying standards.
There are a total of 14 swimmers in the London Team 2012 High Performance squad.
