Kilkenny Swimming Club’s Naomi Trait has been selected to compete in the 4×100 freestyle relay team for Ireland at the LEN European Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
They fly out to Budapest on Friday to try and qualify for the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The competition takes place from the 17th to the 23rd of May.
Swim Ireland has confirmed a large team of 24 athletes (20 swimmers and 4 divers) for the competition.
Olympic Qualification
The focus for the divers will be on further preparation for the Olympic Games, with two athletes certain to be invited to Tokyo 2021 at this stage, whilst the other half of the contingent await further clarification on their Olympic status.
The focus for the swimming contingent will be on Tokyo 2021 relay qualification – this will be an attempt to qualify an Irish relay to the Games for the first time since 1972.
The Olympic relay qualification process sees the 12 highest finishing nations in each Olympic relay event at the 2019 FINA World Championships (held in Gwangju, South Korea) having automatically qualified for the Games.
With a total of 16 Olympic slots available per relay, each event has four positions still available, with Ireland currently sitting in two Top-16 positions leading into this competition.
The Irish Men’s 4x100m medley relay finished 14th at the 2019 World Championships, whilst the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle relay finished 16th.
These positions must be secured further with faster times produced than those achieved in Gwangju, with the Championships in Budapest being the last opportunity for European nations to achieve this.
Irish Team
Brendan Hyland– National Centre (Dublin)
Conor Ferguson– Larne Swimming Club
Daniel Wiffen– Loughborough University
Danielle Hill– Larne Swimming Club
Darragh Greene– National Centre (Dublin)
Ellen Walshe– Templeogue Swimming Club
Eoin Corby– National Centre (Limerick)
Erin Riordan– National Centre (Dublin)
Finn McGeever– National Centre (Limerick)
Gerry Quinn– National Centre (Limerick)
Jack McMillan– Bangor Swimming Club
Jordan Sloan– Bangor Swimming Club
Max McCusker– Florida State University
Mona McSharry– University of Tennessee
Naomi Trait– Kilkenny Swimming Club
Niamh Coyne– National Centre (Dublin)
Paddy Johnston– Ards Swimming Club
Robbie Powell– National Centre (Dublin)
Shane Ryan– National Centre (Dublin)
Victoria Catterson– Ards Swimming Club
We wish Naomi Trait the very best as she flies out to Budapest on Friday to try and qualify for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Naomi has been selected to compete in the 4×100 freestyle relay team. The competition takes place from the 17th to the 23rd of May. Best of luck! pic.twitter.com/fIdGifGQnX
— Loreto (@LoretoKilkenny) May 12, 2021