Hill seals Olympic berth by making qualifying time
Larne swimmer Danielle Hill has reached the qualifying time for this summer's Paris Olympics at the Irish National Swimming Championships.
Hill recorded a time of 59.11 in the semi-finals of the 100m backstroke on Wednesday.
Hill, who also made the Tokyo Olympics at the last opportunity, was in good form in the build-up to the championships, lowering her own Irish record at the recent Ulster Championships.
She decided to skip the World Championships in February to prepare for the Nationals.
Hill’s target was 59.99 but in bettering that time she has become the first Irish woman to dip below the magic minute mark.
She joins fellow Irish swimmers Daniel Wiffen, Mona McSharry and Ellen Walshe, who had already sealed their tickets to Paris this summer.
Her fellow Larne swimmer Conor Ferguson failed to make the Paris qualifying time in his 100m backstroke semi-final, with a time of 54.14.
He will have one more chance to reach the benchmark in Thursday's final.
Ferguson has been chasing his Olympic dream for eight years.
As a 16 year-old he missed out on Rio by 0.05 of a second.
Since then, the bar has gotten higher and despite setting a new personal best (53.90) at the World Championships in Doha in February, he remained 0.16 outside of the Olympic qualifying time of 50.74.
