Laois swimmer advances to World semi-final in new Irish record

Shane Ryan broke a five-year-old Irish Record to progress to the semi-finals of the 100m Freestyle on day two of racing at the World Swimming Championships in Budapest.

The triple Olympian swam an impressive 46.23 seconds in the 100m Freestyle heats, knocking .45 of a second off his own 2019 record of 46.68.

The time saw the 30-year-old place third in his heat, advancing to the semi-final in sixth place overall.

Speaking after the race Ryan said, “I knew the record was going to come down as I’ve been working more on Freestyle, but that’s my first full 100m since the Olympic Games, when I was training I never did a full 100m, so it was a bit sloppy, but we can clean it up and try and sneak under 46 (seconds).”

“My main thing is that I naturally have a lot of speed, I barely tried on that first 25m and just tried to put together a good race, a clean race, I think that’s really important, not really focussing on the time, or anyone else, like yeah I was looking at everyone but they were just there to help me get along, but I had a plan in place and it worked out, so I just need to try clean it up a little bit more,” he ended.

The 100m Freestyle Semi-Final will take place on Wednesday at 4.58pm Irish time.