Paris 2024: Tom Fannon sets new Irish record to make 50m freestyle semis

Tom Fannon set a new Irish record at La Defense Arena on Thursday morning to win his 50m men's freestyle heat and progress to the semi-finals.

Fannon, making his Olympic debut, touched the wall in 21.79 ahead of Croatia's Jere Hribar (22.08) and Mikel Schreuders of Aruba (22.14). He moves through in sixth place overall.

Fannon competed in the Commonwealth Games for England before making the switch to Ireland.

The 26-year-old became the first Irish swimmer to break the 22-second barrier with his 21.95 time at the 2023 Irish Open. He competed in the World Championships in 2023, where he finished 20th overall in the 50m freestyle.

Fannon will return to the pool later on Thursday for the semis, which start at 7.44pm and he believes that he can go quicker in that semi-final.

Speaking to RTÉ Sport afterwards, Fannon admitted that he was surprised to have broken the Irish record, insisting that he was unhappy with how he finished the race.

"Honestly I'm surprised with that time," he said. "It was such a bad finish, I was long into the wall.

"I can't really see much, I've got bad eyesight, and I had to squint to see the board. So 21.7, I was like, 'oh my God, wow'.

"I think everybody in the back of their mind before they swim has a little bit of doubt. I think that doubt is, am I fast enough? Because you don't know until you touch the wall. So when you touch the wall and you see the time like that, it fills you with so much confidence.

"Tonight, I'm looking forward to it. I’m going to swim down and get some nice recovery and just try and be faster."

Fannon will have a sizeable Irish contingent in the crowd cheering him on in tonight's semi-final and he admits that the support has helped him to push on.

He said: "It's great, the crowd is