It is the last chance for Ireland’s swimmers to qualify for the Paris Olympics as the National Championships get underway on Wednesday.
Daniel Wiffen, Mona McSharry and Ellen Walshe have already punched their ticket to Paris this summer and the hope is that they’ll be joined by a number of others by the time the meet finishes on Sunday evening.
However, there are also places to be fought for in the two qualified relays as both the men’s and women’s medley squads have top 16 spots guaranteed.
For those that don’t quite make the Olympic standard it is also a qualifying event for next month’s European Championships in Belgrade.
2021 Olympians Danielle Hill, Darragh Greene and Shane Ryan will feature at the Championships, along with numerous strong contenders including – amongst others – Tom Fannon, Conor Ferguson, John Shortt, Victoria Catterson, Nathan Wiffen and Maria Godden.
In all events bar the longer distances, each will each have at least three opportunities across the competition to secure the Olympic qualifying time.
Hill and Ferguson in action on first day
Larne duo Danielle Hill and Conor Ferguson will be in action on the first day of competition with both looking for that elusive Paris qualifying time.
Hill, who made the Tokyo Olympics at the last opportunity, has been in good form in the build-up, lowering her own Irish record in the 100m backstroke at the recent Ulster Championships.
She decided to skip the World Championships in February to prepare for the Nationals.
Hill’s target is 59.99 and if she was to achieve it, she would become the first Irish woman to dip below the magic minute mark.
Ferguson, meanwhile, 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. Since then, the bar has gotten higher and despite setting a new personal best (53.90) at the World Championships in Doha in February, he remained 0.16 outside of the Olympic qualifying time of 50.74.
Other storylines to follow at the championships sees Daniel Wiffen’s twin brother Nathan Wiffen attempting to join his brother in Paris in both the 800 and 1500m freestyle.
Nathan must lower his personal bests considerably, but his brother has done it over the past two years, ending with two gold medals at the Worlds, so Nathan will be keen to secure a twin billing in the French capital?
Victoria Catterson will be hoping to make the time in the women’s 200m freestyle but winning the 100m will almost be as important for the Ulster swimmer as regardless of time it should cement her place in the relay.
Other Ulster simmers to watch out for include Grace Davison and Ellie McCartney, especially with relay places in mind.
There is still the chance that the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay will be offered an Olympic place.
Ireland are currently ranked 17th, but if one country above them does not accept their invite then more Irish swimmers would have the chance to compete in Paris.
