Longford’s Darragh Greene became Ireland’s first swimmer to go inside the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Qualification time at the 2019 FINA World Championships as he set a new Irish Record in the heats of the 100m Breaststroke in Gwangju, South Korea in July.
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His time of 59.82 was .11 under the FINA A time for Olympic qualification and pre-validated the National Centre Dublin swimmer for the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
Darragh was also in action in the heats of the 50m Breaststroke at the World Championships in South Korea and he was on fire as he secured qualification for the semi-final in an Irish record time of 26.94.
It was Darragh's second national record inside three days as the talented 23-year-old blitzed Barry Murphy’s 2009 Irish Senior Record (27.26) and now holds all three Men’s Irish Senior Breaststroke Records.
Darragh’s time of 26.94, put him 4th in his heat and 8th overall for the semi-final.
In the 50m Breaststroke semi-finals another brilliant swim from Darragh saw him finish 4th in a time of 27.14 and in 10th overall, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to secure a final spot.
Greene came within one place of a semi-final for the second time at the World Swimming Championships when he competed in the 200m Breaststroke. The Newtownforbes man clocked 2:10.61, his fastest ever morning swim and third fastest time in the event.
For the second year in succession dynamic Darragh won three Gold medals in dominating the Breaststroke events (50m, 100m and 200m) in the Irish Open Championships at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin in April.
Breaking Andrew Bree’s 11-year-old Irish Senior Record in clocking 2:10.05 in the 200m Breaststroke Final at the Irish Open was a huge boost for the Longford swimming star.
