SHANE RYAN DELIVERED the best 100m butterfly swim of his career to date as he set a new Irish record in the Olympic heats on Thursday morning.
Ryan finished fourth in a time of 52.52 seconds, taking six-hundredths of a second off the previous best held by Tokyo team-mate Brendan Hyland.
Advertisement
But unfortunately it was not enough to seal his progression to tomorrow morning’s semi-finals.
Only the fastest 16 times qualified for the semi-finals, with Ryan — who was 48th in the pre-race rankings — easily outperforming that mark to finish 37th overall.
“[It's] a little unexpected,” Ryan admitted when speaking to RTÉ afterwards.
“The 100 fly was just something that I wanted as a free event, stress-free, but I’m super happy to end on that, especially with all of the injuries that I’ve been going through with the shoulder.
“I’m really happy with it. I’ve never swam it like that before and I’ve a lot more to offer. It’s just really great.”
American star Caleb Dressel, who won his first individual gold of the Tokyo Games in the 100m freestyle earlier on Thursday, clocked the fastest time across the eight heats with a new Olympic record of 50.39, with Hungary’s Kristof Milak next best in 50.62.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Shane Ryan sets new Irish record in 100m butterfly heats
SHANE RYAN DELIVERED the best 100m butterfly swim of his career to date as he set a new Irish record in the Olympic heats on Thursday morning.
Ryan finished fourth in a time of 52.52 seconds, taking six-hundredths of a second off the previous best held by Tokyo team-mate Brendan Hyland.
But unfortunately it was not enough to seal his progression to tomorrow morning’s semi-finals.
Only the fastest 16 times qualified for the semi-finals, with Ryan — who was 48th in the pre-race rankings — easily outperforming that mark to finish 37th overall.
“[It's] a little unexpected,” Ryan admitted when speaking to RTÉ afterwards.
“The 100 fly was just something that I wanted as a free event, stress-free, but I’m super happy to end on that, especially with all of the injuries that I’ve been going through with the shoulder.
“I’m really happy with it. I’ve never swam it like that before and I’ve a lot more to offer. It’s just really great.”
American star Caleb Dressel, who won his first individual gold of the Tokyo Games in the 100m freestyle earlier on Thursday, clocked the fastest time across the eight heats with a new Olympic record of 50.39, with Hungary’s Kristof Milak next best in 50.62.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
2020 Olympics Shane Ryan Swimming tokyo 2020