Tom Fannon Blasts New Irish Record to Advance to Olympic Semi-Final
ByEmma Porter |
Tom Fannon had the swim of his life in the biggest moment of his career as he made his Olympic debut for Team Ireland at Paris La Defence on Thursday morning. Fannon scorched a new Irish Record of 21.79 to win his heat and progresses to Thursday evening’s semi-final in sixth place overall.
Fannon’s previous best time was 21.94, which he swam at the Irish Open and Olympic Trials in May, ensuring his qualification for the Games, this morning he broke Shane Ryan’s 21.82 Irish Record set at the European Aquatics Championships in June.
A delighted Fannon spoke after the race, saying, “Just over the moon with it to be honest, I said to a couple of other media outlets I did not expect the time to be so fast considering my finish was so bad. I know it felt good swimming wise, you can always kind of see people beside you. Wow, what a feeling I got at the end, I’ve never had a feeling quite like that.
“A big thing that Steve (Beckerleg, coach) said to me before going down, enjoy it, don’t let the moment seize you too much, but enjoy it, and I think that was the main thing for me, I came out, and I just wanted to acknowledge the crowd as well and just feed off that energy and I think I did that pretty well, so I’m super happy with it and now it’s just about trying to refocus and go faster tonight, to get into that final.
“It gives confidence, I think a swim like that would give you great confidence as well, but not getting too ahead of it, because those boys sometimes go a little bit easier in the morning, and they take a while to warm up, so tonight is all about just trying to be as fast as possible and making it back. I said my major goal here was making it through the rounds and that is still the case, not a time, but just make it through, get your hand on the wall before the person next to you, so do that and hopefully be in a final tomorrow.”
The Men’s 50m Freestyle Semi-Final will take place on Thursday at 7.46pm
