Larne swimmers Conor Ferguson and Nathan Wiffen have both missed out on securing individual Olympic Games spots at the Irish trials in Dublin.
Ferguson’s time in the 100m backstroke was 0.25 seconds outside the Paris qualifying mark.
After clocking a personal best of 53.87 seconds in his opening heat on Wednesday which was followed by a 54.12 semi-final swim, Thursday’s final was Ferguson’s last chance to book Paris qualification in his specialist individual event.
Ferguson, was on target after reaching halfway in 25.9 seconds, and could still secure a place in the medley relay squad for the Games.
In the 800m freestyle, Wiffen was paced by his twin brother and double world champion Daniel in the early stages but with 200m remaining he had to take over the lead as the Olympic qualifying time of 7:51.65 began to slip away.
He gave his all in the closing stages and had the consolation of a personal best of 7:54.69.
The two brothers will swim together again in the heats of the 1500m on Saturday morning which presents Nathan with a second opportunity to join his brother in Paris this summer.
Ferguson has been chasing his Olympic dream for eight years.
As a 16-year-old he missed out on Rio by 0.05 of a second.
He then missed out on qualification for the Tokyo Games by 0.47 seconds before being 0.13 shy on this occasion.
Ferguson’s Larne club-mate Danielle Hill secured Olympic qualification in the women’s 100m backstroke on Wednesday.
