McCusker Hits 51.90 100 Butterfly Irish Record During Day 2 Heats

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
• Results (when available)

Day 2 of the 2024 Irish Olympic Trials brought about the second national record of the competition and it came at the hands of former Arizona State University swimmer Max McCusker.

Racing in the heats of the men’s 100m butterfly, McCusker fired off a lifetime best of 51.90 to take the top seed.

McCusker’s outing represents his first-ever foray under the 52-second barrier, scorching his previous Irish standard of 52.31 set at this year’s World Championships in Doha. That was established during a swim-off after he tied South African Matt Sates for 16th. Sates wound up claiming the semi-final slot.

The World Aquatics Olympic Qualification Time sits at 51.67 so 25-year-old McCusker will need to hack off another .23 but he’ll have another shot during tonight’s semi-final.

Also in the men’s 100m fly heats was 19-year-old Evan Bailey with the teen clocking his 2nd Irish junior record in as many days. After hitting 1:48.49 in the heats of the men’s 200m free, he notched 53.47 in this 1flyb to overtake his previous junior record of 54.22 from last year and snag the 3rd seed.

Shane Ryan is also in the mix as the 2nd seed in 53.36.

Additional Notes

• Darragh Greene logged a new championship record in the men’s 100m breast, hitting 59.91 to land lane 4 for tonight’s final. He’ll be chasing the 59.49 OQT in tonight’s semi-final.
• Tom Fannon produced a mark of 22.02 in the men’s 50m free, painstakingly close to the 21.96 OQT which he’ll hunt during this evening’s event.