25/07/2026
Day 3 Thursday: Romy’s Day
50m Backstroke A strong swim, just half a second off her PB, and a perfect loosener ahead of one of the blue riband events later, the 100m Freestyle.
100m Freestyle: She added a bit of time in the morning qualifier, but set a blistering 1:03.26 in the evening B Final, dropping 0.66 seconds for a brand new PB. Great swimming!
Day 4 Friday: Luke and Romy.
Luke arrived today for the 50m breaststroke. He swam well, recorded a new PB, but unfortunately missed out on a B Final by a few hundredths of a second. A tough way to miss out, but he plans to be back next year, faster and with ambitions to race a few more events.
Meanwhile, Romy continued working through her busy programme. She came very close to her PB in the 200m backstroke before producing a superb 31.95 in the 50m butterfly, taking just over half a second off her previous best—a huge improvement over a single length of the pool. The swim also earned her a place in another B Final, her third of the Championships, where she matched her qualifying time exactly with another excellent performance.
Unfortunately, Sarah had to withdraw from the 50m butterfly through injury. A real disappointment, as she has been swimming very well in training and is a superb exponent of butterfly.
Day 5 Saturday: Romy’s Day again.
100m Backstroke. A little off her best, but after such a busy few days that’s understandable. She can be very proud of her weeks work. Three B Finals (only two were raced) and three PBs. A brilliant return for all the work she’s put in.
Huge thanks to the organisers for a fantastic event. I’m only sorry to have made it up for one day. Hopefully I’ll make a couple more next year. It’s always impressive to see so many dedicated and respectful young athletes competing at such a high level. Irish records fell yesterday, which tells you everything about the standard on display. The future of the sport in Ireland is in very good hands.
And a massive appreciation to all the volunteers. With the 9 am starts and evening finishes, it’s an incredibly long day and week, and their commitment keeps everything running smoothly.
A special shout out to race commentator Andrew Bree. The enthusiasm he maintains, the clarity of his race breakdowns, calling splits mid race, and keeping pace with swimmers moving at that speed is genuinely impressive. His work all week adds so much to the atmosphere of the occasion for both spectators and competitors.
Thanks also to Nicky for coming up every day. Your steady presence means a lot to our swimmers. Hopefully next year we’ll have more athletes involved and continue building the strong team spirit that’s already emerging. With our younger swimmers coming through, as we saw in Limerick a few weeks ago and at other galas this year, the signs are very positive.
Enjoy the break, everyone — especially Romy, Jackie and Nicky. See you all in the new term.
