Visit our 2015 Irish Open event landing page for video interviews and on-demand race footage from Dublin!
The 51 members of the 18-and-under group of Americans competing in this week’s Irish Open Championships will not be the only foreigners racing against some of Ireland’s best in Dublin. Several members of the Danish national team will be in attendance as well, offering an exciting look at the future of the sport.
PSYCH SHEET, IRISH OPEN
LIVE RESULTS, IRISH OPEN
SWIMMINGWORLD.TV VIDEO LANDING PAGE
Many of the top swimmers from last March’s National Club Swimming Association’s junior national championships in the USA will be racing in their first long course meet of the season. (Click here to view the NCSA All-Star team roster.) Most of those athletes will be representing the USA in international competition for the first time, while others have experienced the thrill of swimming for the Stars and Stripes previously.
As for Denmark’s small squad racing in the meet, it will not feature world championship medalists Rikke Pederson and Lotte Friis, nor will recent NCAA standouts Anders Nielsen or Andreas Schiellerup be in attendance. In their place will be Frederik Pedersen as the top star, who is part of a national record-setting short course meters freestyle relay. He’ll be angling for wins in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyles.
The Irish will have some top talents in the pool this weekend as well. Multiple national record holder Andrew Meegan will be looking to add more national titles in the distance freestyles with American prodigy Matthew Hirschberger as his top rival this week. Brendan Hyland will be looking for the butterfly triple and will chase his national records, including his newly-set standard of 54.27 in the 100 butterfly. Having already qualified for the World University Games and world championships, Sycerika McMahon and Fiona Doyle will continue training in preparation for this summer’s big meets. Jordan Sloan, who will compete for Ireland at the World University Games, is swimming four events including the 200 freestyle as top seed.
Swimming World’s Jeff Commings will be the commentator for on-demand races at the Irish Open. Those videos will be posted on the SWIMMINGWORLD.TV VIDEO LANDING PAGE when available. Video interviews will also be posted there throughout the week.
Go Alex!!:)