Dublin’s Ellen Walshe finishes sixth in her 100m butterfly heat behind Zhang Yufei
Ireland’s Ellen Walshe in action during the 100m butterfly heats at the Paris La Défense Arena during the first day of swimming at the Olympic Games. Photograph: James Crombie/InphoZhang Yufei didn’t take long to stir up some inevitable controversy inside the Paris La Défense Arena on Saturday morning, when in the openingswimming session she won the second of four heats of the women’s 100m butterfly with the fastest outright time of 56.
“It’s not a great time for me, I’ve been 58-low consistently this year but considering I’m racing the 400m on Monday, and have to keep a bit of mileage under my belt.” Recently crowned European 50m backstroke champion, Hill took out the opening leg in 55.61 seconds, at which point Ireland were seventh, before the 16-year-old Davison – the youngest member of the 133-strong Irish team – produced an excellent second leg of 55.44 seconds.
Australia won the second heat in 3:31.57, ahead of China, who finished in 3:34.31, some indication of the quality of times there as the Irish women ended up 16th of the 16. The Irish women had also qualified for Paris in last spot, becoming the first Irish women’s relay team to compete in the Olympics since 1972. There will also be Irish interest in the men’s and women’s 100m freestyle relay.
Another of the Chinese swimmers Qin Haiyang, who holds the record for the men’s 200m breaststroke, claimed on social media that this vigorous testing of Chinese athletes in Paris was an attempt to disturb their rhythm.
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