Tom Fannon secures 50m Olympic qualifying time

Ireland now has five individual swimmers qualified for the Paris Olympics as 26-year-old Tom Fannon dipped under the qualifying time for the 50 metre freestyle at the Irish Open and Olympic trials at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin.

Fannon who swam for England in the 2018 Commonwealth games before switching his allegiance to Ireland and the NCD Laser club in Galway, clocked 21.94 seconds in the A final, just holding off Callum Bain from Cookstown in the race they call "the splash and dash".

His time in winning the A final not only went below the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT) of 21.96 seconds, but it also set a new Irish senior record by .02 of a second.

"I was in the zone, nothing else around me except my desire to hit the wall at the far end" said a delighted Fannon.

"I was vaguely aware of Callum (Bain) beside me but this was all about the clock and now my intention is to try and bring Callum with me in the Super Final on Friday and hopefully get two Irish swimmers to Paris in the same event.

"As far as I know, Ireland has never had two swimmers in the same discipline at an Olympic games."

While there was delight for Fannon, there was disappointment for Conor Ferguson who once again missed out on qualifying for Paris in his only swim at the NAC, the men's 100 metres backstroke.

The 25-year-old who also narrowly missed the Tokyo qualification, won the Super final in 54.99 seconds just .25 of a second shy of the OQT.

Ferguson may still have a chance of swimming at the games in the men’s medley relay squad, but his desire to make the men’s individual 100 backstroke in Paris is at an end.

There was also disappointment for Nathan Wiffen who missed out joining his twin brother Daniel in Paris in the 800 metres freestyle.

Daniel,