Fannon Through to Freestyle Semi-Final in Singapore
Tom Fannon finally made his first appearance in Singapore, progressing to the 50m Freestyle Semi-Final, on day six of the World Aquatics Championships. Fannon will join Ellie McCartney, who swims the 200m Breaststroke Final, in action in this afternoon’s finals session.
The National Centre Dublin swimmer, a semi-finalist at the Olympic Games, was fifth in his heat and advances fourteenth overall in 21.87 seconds, just outside his Irish Record 21.74 set during that semi-final in Paris.
After the race, the 27-year-old admitted a costly mistake had cost him some time ‘Yeah good, mixed emotions, I know I can be faster than that, made a massive mistake on the entry, hands, I felt them come apart and I was like ‘do not panic’, this is the last thing you want to do, especially when you’re amongst these, you know, amazing 50 Freestylers is panic. And I think I controlled that pretty well, Steve (Beckerleg, coach), he might say too well. Yeah, quick to make the semi, which means it’s going to be even quicker to make the final, so no mistakes tonight, go back, recover and just do my best.’
In the 100m Butterfly, Jack Cassin continued his good form with a lifetime best swim of 52.84, going under 53 seconds for the first time to finish second in his heat.
The National Centre Limerick swimmer, who also swam a personal best in the 200m Butterfly earlier this week, had a previous best in the 100m of 53.05 from the European U23 Championships in June.
Speaking after the race he said ‘You know, this season I’ve been doing a lot of fly, I kind of wanted to push back a little bit on the free and definitely focus on the fly. I’m so happy, you know, I started this season in a 54.0, so to go 52.8, after the 200m fly where I was 1.57, I’m really proud of that. It’s been a long season, you know, when you get into late July, August, everyone starts getting a bit tired, but I’m so happy with the work that we’ve done.’
Ireland’s first relay of the week comprised of four National Centre Limerick swimmers, all making senior international debuts on a relay. 200m Freestyle semi-finalist Evan Bailey, Cormac Rynn, Jack Cassin and 200m Backstroke semi-finalist John Shortt combined for a time of 7:16.70 in the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay.
Bailey led off in 1:47.02, Cormac Rynn, clocked 1:49.51, while Cassin and Shortt touched in 1:50.07 and 1:50.10 to place the team fourteenth overall.
Bailey, who swam his second fastest time ever in the lead off spoke after the race ‘Yeah, I felt really strong with that, so even though it’s not my fastest swim, yeah, it’s my second fastest time ever, so I’m really happy with that. Just like, I felt really good to swim with the boys as well, it’s a lot more fun, it’s definitely the most enjoyable race I’ve done here so far, and yeah, it’s only up from here with the 4x200m, so at NCL just all of us are going to push that on a bit more, and hopefully see where we can go, push it on a lot more, be the best we can be.’
Rynn, making his senior international debut added ‘It’s class, like, I mean, it lived up to what I thought it would be like. I was just kind of jealous seeing everyone else just like race the whole weekend. So, to get in it’s like, I’m very happy with that, well, I mean, I could have been faster now myself, but it was good, I enjoyed it.’
Cassin, who lived in Singapore for almost ten years continued ‘Yeah, it was definitely something special. You know, we all train together day in, day out, we definitely have that confidence in each other because you see how hard all of us work. So, it’s special on a world stage kind of being here, and I think there’s a bit more sort of memories when I’m back, it’s kind of like my second home, to represent my home country in the place that I used to call home is something very unique, and I’m very proud to be here.’
John Shortt, normally a backstroke specialist added ‘It’s my first relay with these boys. I don’t get to do relays, I never got to do one of the senior level before, I was so proud to be out here with the boys, just like I said last night and, you know Cormac said something to me when we were in the tunnel like ‘we’re a long way from Castlebar’ and I don’t know, that kind of fired me up with a lot of pride, because, you know, it’s just from where me and him have started out and where we came from, and now we’re on the world stage together. So, you know, I’m just very proud to be with him and these two boys beside me.’
Results – Day 6 Friday 1st August
| Men 100m Butterfly | Jack Cassin | 52.84 (34th) |
| Men 50m Freestyle | Tom Fannon | 21.87 (14th) |
| Men 4x200m Freestyle Relay | Ireland (Evan Bailey, Cormac Rynn,
Jack Cassin, John Shortt) |
7:16.70 (14th) |
Schedule – Day 6 Friday 1st August
| Men 50m Freestyle | Tom Fannon | 12.34 (IRL) |
| Women 200m Breaststroke Final | Ellie McCartney | 13.08 (IRL) |
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