Ireland finished 7th in the 400m Medley Relay final at the European Swimming Championships.
The quartet of Shane Ryan, Nicholas Quinn, Brendan Hyland and Curtis Coulter set a new Irish record of 3:37.47, shaving almost a second off the previous mark they had set in this morning’s heats.
Ryan led of the relay on Backstroke, touching in 54.37 seconds, Quinn was close to his best on the Breaststroke leg in 1:01.01, Hyland clocked 53.35 on the Butterfly while Coulter, on freestyle, swam a speedy 48.74 to anchor home.
In total across diving and swimming, Ireland has had one of its best European Championships in recent years competing in four Finals and six semi-finals with Fiona Doyle just missing out on a medal in the 100m Breaststroke where she touched in fourth.
Reacting to this week’s performances Swim Ireland National Performance Director Peter Banks said, "What a great team effort from the whole squad. Although we did not get any more qualifiers for Rio, the squad led by Fiona Doyle, Shane Ryan and Nicholas Quinn as future Olympians showed great leadership in making semis and finals along with a great 4x100m Medley Relay. We featured in every evening finals session and the athletes that are part of this squad will all be part of some great future Irish teams. The future looks really bright for the next four years and beyond."
