Relay boost for Hyland in Euro Championships

By Stephen Leonard

TALLAGHT Swim Club’s Brendan Hyland played his part in an impressive performance by Ireland’s 400m Medley Relay Team that finished seventh at the European Championships in London.

The team which was made up of Olympic Games qualifiers Shane Ryan and Nicholas Quinn together with Hyland and Curtis Coulter had clocked 3:38.40 in the heats to secure further progress in seventh position.

And improved performances by all four swimmers in the final saw them break that record as they finished up in a time of three minutes 37.48 seconds for seventh.

Ryan led of the relay on backstroke, touching home in 54.37 seconds with Quinn close to his best on the breaststroke leg with a time of 1:01.01.

Hyland then completed his leg in a new personal best of 53.35 on the butter-fly while Coulter, on free- style, clocked a fine 48.74.

It was a welcome boost for Hyland who had fallen short of Olympic qualification in his favoured 200m Butterfly event after which he clocked 54.08 for a 41st place finish in the 100m Fly.

“That relay was great” Hyland told The Echo. “It was my first National relay and we were going up against Olympic champions. It was just amazing.

“It was a real boost after what was a disappointing week for me.

“Most teams race together at every international championship, but this was our first time together.

“In the heats we were running alongside a strong Russian team. We knew we had to beat them to make the final and we did.

“We finished seventh in the end, but this [Irish] team would be a really strong team at the Universities Games next year” he insisted.

Speaking about his 200m Butterfly race earlier in the week Hyland recalled “I put myself out there halfway through, but I didn’t have a finish that was good enough for the 200m Butterfly which is the most demanding discipline.

“I had made mistakes [in the build up to the championships]. While I had altered my focus to endurance training, it was just too late.

“But I’m learning, and the experience of competing at this level will stand to me, because experience is what it’s all about” he stressed.