March 2019 Sports Star of the Month – Brendan Hyland
THREE gold medals and two Irish senior records in the 2019 Irish Open Swimming Championships has seen Brendan Hyland back among the contenders for The Echo 2019 Amateur Sports Star Award.
The Tallaght and National Centre swimmer produced a superb display to claim the National 200m Butterfly title for the eighth year running, breaking both the Irish Senior and Irish Open Championship records in the process.
Indeed his finishing time of 1:57.21 knocked .17 off his previous best of 1:57.38 set at the same event in 2018.
Hyland took his second National gold and second Irish record in as many days when he contested the 200m Individual Medley, serving up an outstanding swim that saw him shave more than half a second off James Brown’s 2017 record of 2:02.09.
He clocked 2:01.52 for top spot on the podium ahead of Bangor’s Jack McMillan (2:02.98) and National Centre Limerick’s Cillian Melly (2:03.84).
Hyland then went top of the podium for the third time with gold in the 100m Butterfly in which he clocked 53.07.
He was later named on the Ireland senior squad that will travel to the World Championships in South Korea this summer.
