Tom Fannon becomes first Irish swimmer to set sub-22 seconds time over 50m of freestyle

Another Irish record was broken in the pool on day two of the Irish Open Swimming Championships' five-day meet as 25-year-old Tom Fannon became the first ever Irish swimmer to get under the 22-second barrier in the men's 50m freestyle.

Competing in the heats of the men’s 100m free event at the Irish Open Championships at the National Aquatic Centre, Fannon recorded 21.95 seconds for the first 50 of his 100-freestyle heat.

That time erased the old national record of 22.14, set by Dubliner Barry Murphy at the 2009 World Championships in Rome and that was in the days when the now banned shiny one-piece swimsuits were allowed and when records fell like nine-pence

Fanon’s previous personal best of 22.09 seconds came from the 2018 Commonwealth Games and Fannon has represented England internationally prior to switching to Ireland.

Fannon swam hard in that first 50 but slowed down for the second 50 and he won’t now get a chance to lower the mark again tonight as he missed the final.

However, he is entered in the individual 50m free event which is on Wednesday and the plus for Ireland is that Fannon's time of 21.95 seconds is inside the World Aquatics 'A’ standard needed for this summer’s World Championships.

Fannon now joins Ellen Walshe, Daniel Wiffen and Mona McSharry at the worlds in Japan this summer.

The finals on day two of this five-day meet are off the blocks at 5pm and include not only the men’s 100m freestyle final but the women’s 100m breaststroke final where McSharry is the fastest qualifier and the men’s 400 Individual medley where Jack Cassin is the fastest after the heats.