Talented Limerick swimmer targets Tokyo Olympic qualification

TALENTED Limerick swimmer Eoin Corby will get another opportunity to qualify for this summer's Tokyo Olympics at the upcoming 2021 Swim Ireland Performance Meet later this month.

The event will take place at the Sport Ireland National Aquatic Centre in Dublin from June 24 to 26, featuring individual Olympic events only, with meet entry times set to allow a similar number of athletes to compete at the event as at the Irish National Team Trials in April.

The focus will be on the 10 athletes who came within 1.5% of a FINA 'A' time in April, including highly-regarded Clarina swimmer Corby.

Corby posted a time of 28.52 in the 50m Breaststroke heats at the recent LEN European Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary last week.

It was 19-year-old Corby’s first appearance at the LEN European Aquatics Championships, having made his senior international debut for Ireland at the European Short Course Championships in December 2019.

Corby personal best for the event is 27.76, which he set in this event at the Irish Winter Meet in Dublin in December.

Corby, who trains at Swim Ireland’s National Centre Limerick, has been focusing on the 100m and 200m Breaststroke, his efforts paying off last month at Irish National Team Trials when he swam 2.10.50 in the 200m – missing the Olympic Consideration Time needed to qualify for Tokyo 2021 by 0.15 seconds.

​All athletes who enter the Swim Ireland Performance Meet will be able to post times which will be considered as part of the selection process for the 2021 LEN European Championships (25m) in November and the 2021 FINA World Championships (25m) in December.

Swim Ireland National Performance Director, Jon Rudd, said: "When the 2021 Olympic Nomination Policy was revised as part of the ongoing COVID-19 circumstances, we foresaw at that time that athletes within the 1.5% of an Olympic qualification standard would travel into Europe to find a meet of their choosing during June as their final attempt at Tokyo qualification.

"With things as they currently are, we concluded that it was much safer in all regards for such athletes to make this attempt on home soil, avoiding international travel, whilst providing an additional qualification opportunity for those wishing to race in the international short course season at the end of this year."

Following the Trials in April, Ireland has five FINA 'A' Olympic Qualification times in individual events, Shane Ryan - 100m Backstroke; Darragh Greene - 100m Breaststroke; Darragh Greene - 200m Breaststroke; Mona McSharry - 100m Breaststroke and Daniel Wiffen - 800m Freestyle.

It is the hope that at least one relay team will join these four athletes later this week when FINA reveals the final Olympic relay rankings, with news expected on Friday, June 4.

Whilst swimming pools will be able to reopen to the public at the time of the Performance Meet, and more sports events will be able to take place than were permitted in April at Swim Ireland's last event, strict COVID-19 protocols will remain in place.

These include the requirement for all athletes, coaches, officials and Swim Ireland staff to produce a negative antigen or PCR test prior to competing, and for all present to wear face masks and remain socially distant at all times they are not in the pool.