Gibbons in Euro Junior Action in Poland

ATHLONE’S Brendan Gibbons is among a ten-strong Irish swimming team that begins competition today, Wednesday, at the European Junior Swimming Championships in the Termy Maltanskie Sports Complex in Poznan, Poland. 

The team, led by Pearse McGuigan as head coach and assisted by Athlone’s Johnny Powell, will compete from July 10 to 14. A total of 510 swimmers (285 in the men’s events and 225 in the women’s) from 42 of the 51 LEN Member Federations will compete.
The home team Poland, with 44 competitors, has entered the largest team. Eligible age groups are 17?18 for men and 15-16 for women. Gibbons will compete in the 400m freestyle event today.
 
Speaking before the event, Swim Ireland National Performance Director Peter Banks said: “This is a great opportunity for our young swimmers to experience European competition at a high level. We have a mix of experienced swimmers that competed at the European Juniors in 2012 in Belgium, as well as some first-timers, and we are hopeful for a number of top-20 (semi-final) and top-10 (final) performances over the five days”.
 
Olympians Sycerika McMahon and Grainne Murphy have both won medals at the European Junior Championships, the last stepping stone for swimmers before senior international competition.
 
The Ireland team is: Dearbhail McNamara (Westport SC), Clodagh Flood (Tallaght SC/NAC PC), Brendan Gibbons (Athlone SC/NAC PC), Mary Kate McDowell (Bangor SC), Gemma Kane (Bangor SC), Brian O’Sullivan (NAC SC/UL PC), Sarah Kelly (Comans SC), David O’Sullivan (Galway SC/Connacht PC), Laoise Fleming (Kells SC/NAC PC) and Lydia Kehoe (New Ross SC). All swimmers are members of Swim Ireland’s Senior and Youth Development Squads.

For full details on how Brendan performs at the Championships, see next week’s Westmeath Independent newspaper.