John Shortt breaks Irish record but misses out on Olympic time

John Shortt and Calum Bain were among those who just missed out securing their places at the Paris Olympics on day three of the Irish Open and Olympic trials at the National Aquatic Centre.

In the first 'A' final of the night Shortt set a new Irish senior record as he Limerick swam 1:57.90, in the men's 200m backstroke, just .4 of a second shy of making the Olympic qualifying time (OQT).

In a thrilling finish, Shortt held off the challenge of Gavin Keogh and while was disappointed to have missed out on qualification time, the Galwayman will have another opportunity in the Super final on Saturday evening.

Maria Godden won the women's 200m backstroke in a time of 2:14.94.

Tom Fannon remains as the only Irish swimmer to have made the 50m freestyle OQT. In today's Super final, Fannon finished second to Cookstown’s Calum Bain who won in a time of 22.06 second, an agonising .1 of a second outside the OQT of 21.96.

Bain will have another chance if he chooses so, in the first leg of the men’s 100m freestyle and the heats of the blue riband event are on Saturday.

In the men's 100m breaststroke Darragh Greene missed out on making his second Olympics by over a second in the Super final, finishing in a time of 1:00.52 while Max McCusker who won gold in the men’s 100m butterfly in 51.97 seconds, was a mere .3 of a second shy of making the plane to Paris.

Ellen Walshe who has prequalified for Paris in the 200m individual medley, won the 100m butterfly A final in 58.43, outside the QQT, but she will have another chance to go under the 57.92 seconds needed in Saturday's Super final.

The heats on day 4 are off the blocks at 9.30am on Saturday and will include Nathan Wiffen’s attempt to join his twin brother Daniel at the games as Nathan swims