2021 Irish National Team Trials
- Tuesday, April 20th – Saturday, April 24th
- Prelims at 10:00 am local; Finals at 5:30 pm local
- Sport Ireland National Aquatic Centre, Dublin
- Swim Ireland Olympic Selection Policy
- One-shot Olympic qualifying meet
- Meet Package
- Schedule of Events
- Live Results
- Live Stream
- Psych Sheets
The 2021 Irish National Team Trials will commence on Tuesday, April 20 in Dublin and will serve as an opportunity for swimmers to add their name to the country’s Tokyo 2020 squad. The only two names already on the list to represent Ireland for swimming at the Olympics this summer are Shane Ryan in the 100 backstroke and Darragh Greene in the 100 and 200 breast.
To earn consideration for the team this week, a swimmer must go faster than the FINA A cut in an event. A unique aspect of Irish Trials is that the prelims and the finals are of equal consideration status. That means that if more than 2 swimmers hit the time in any given event, consideration will be given to those who recorded the 2 fastest times whether it was in the heats or the finals.
| FINA A Standards | ||
| Men’s Cut | Event | Women’s Cut |
| 22.01 | 50 freestyle | 24.77 |
| 48.57 | 100 m freestyle | 54.38 |
| 1:47.02 | 200 m freestyle | 1:57.28 |
| 3:46.78 | 400 m freestyle | 4:07.90 |
| 7:54.31 | 800 m freestyle | 8:33.36 |
| 15:00.99 | 1500 m freestyle | 16:32.04 |
| 53.85 | 100 m backstroke | 1:00.25 |
| 1:57.50 | 200 m backstroke | 2:10.39 |
| 59.93 | 100 m breaststroke | 1:07.07 |
| 2:10.35 | 200 m breaststroke | 2:25.52 |
| 51.96 | 100 m butterfly | 57.92 |
| 1:56.48 | 200 m butterfly | 2:08.43 |
| 1:59.67 | 200 m individual medley | 2:12.56 |
| 4:15.84 | 400 m individual medley | 4:38.53 |
2016 Olympian Nicolas Quinn will be among those looking to secure a spot on the team this week. Quinn raced the 100 and 200 breaststroke in Rio and placed 33rd and 19th, respectively. He’ll be racing both of those events at Trials this week as the second seed behind Darragh Greene.
In the women’s breaststroke, Niamh Mayne will be vying for a spot on her first Olympic squad, having represented Ireland at the 2019 World Championship. Mayne is the top seed in the 100 breast with a 1:07.94 which is within a second of the Olympic qualifying standard of 1:07.07. In the 200 breast, however, she will enter as 3rd behind Mona McSharry (2:28.22) and Molly Mayne (2:30.06) with a 2:30.09.
Ellen Walshe is entered in the 100 butterfly with a 59.54 which is a full 3 seconds ahead of the second-fastest entrant Molly Mayne who has a 1:03.06. Walshe swam the 100 fly at Gwangju, placing 35th with a 1:00.85 but will need to get down to a 57.92 in order to qualify for Tokyo.
Also among those scheduled to race this week in Dublin include 2019 Worlds team members Curtis Coulter in the 50 and 100 free, Conor Ferguson in the 100 and 200 backstroke, Brendan Hyland in the 100 and 200 butterfly, and Jordan Sloan in the 100 and 200 free.
Among the other name to watch is Robbie Powell, who is one of the major beneficiaries of the Olympic delay. Powell was handed a one-year doping suspension in 2020, back-dated to November 28th, 2019. He would have missed the Olympic Trials as scheduled in 2020, but is racing this week as the 5th seed in the 100 free and 3rd seed in the 200 free. Ireland is currently qualified to swim that 800 free relay in Tokyo, and they’d need Powell to have any chance of making the final.
Prelims will run beginning each day at 10 am local time (5 am EDT) while finals will start daily at 5:30 in Ireland (12:30 EDT).
Dean?
The name is Niamh Coyne instead of Niamh Mayne.
Go Mona and Ellen!!