McClements Wins Northern Ireland’s First Swimming Medal at Commonwealth Games

Barry McClements has won Northern Ireland’s first ever swimming medal at the Commonwealth Games in the S9 100m Backstroke Final.

Swimming in lane two of this evening’s direct final, Paralympian McClements was ranked outside of the medals in fifth place with a best time of 1:05.76. A brilliant swim from the Newtownards man, in a personal best of 1:05.09, saw him pick up bronze and a first international medal.

The race was won by Australia’s Timothy Hodge in 1:01.88 with New Zealand’s Jesse Reynolds claiming silver in 1:03.65.

McClements returns to the pool for the Men’s 100m Butterfly.

Earlier in the evening, Daniel Wiffen came agonisingly close to winning Northern Ireland’s first medal when he finished fourth in the 400m Freestyle Final, missing bronze by just .13 of a second.

An incredible effort from Wiffen saw him swim a second Irish record today, coming home in 3:46.62, behind three Australians, who had a clean sweep of the podium.

This morning, Wiffen placed himself as the top seed for the final in 3:47.43, knocking over a second off his own Irish record of 3:48.75 set in April this year.

Australia’s Elijah Winnington won gold in 3:43.06 ahead of team-mates Sam Short (3:45.07) and Mack Horton (3:46.49).

Wiffen returns to the pool on Tuesday for his main event, the 1500m Freestyle.

Having broken a long-standing Irish record in the 200m Freestyle heats this morning in 1:59.86, Victoria Catterson swam her third fastest time ever in the event clocking 2:00.65 for eighth overall. Catterson will likely be back in the pool for the 4x100m Freestyle Relay, the team being named tomorrow.

Tomorrow will see Jack McMillan, Danielle Hill and Mollie McAlorum make their Birmingham Games debuts. McMillan will compete in the 200m Freestyle, Hill in the 50m Freestyle and 100m Backstroke and McAlorum and Davison in the 50m Freestyle. Northern Ireland will also be represented in the 4x100m Freestyle Relay which will be a direct final in tomorrow’s evening session. 

Commonwealth Games Day 1 Results

• Men 400m Freestyle
  • Daniel Wiffen
    • H 3:47.43 (1^st) ISR
    • F 3:46.62 (4^th) ISR
• Women 200m Freestyle
  • Victoria Catterson
    • H 1:59.86 (7^th) ISR
    • F 2:00.65 (8^th)
  • Bethany Firth
    • H 2:08.34 (18^th)
  • Grace Davison
    •  H 2:10.00 (19^th)
• Women 100m Butterfly
  • Kaitlyn McCaw
    • H 1:02.60 (24^th)
• Men 100m Backstroke S9
  • Barry McClements
    • H N/A
    • F 1:05.09 (3^rd) PB

Commonwealth Games Day 2 Heats

• Men 200m Freestyle
  • Jack McMillan
• Women 50m Freestyle
  • Danielle Hill, Mollie McAlorum, Grace Davison
• Women 100m Backstroke
  • Danielle Hill
• Women 4x100m Freestyle Relay
  • Northern Ireland (Direct Final)