Ireland Announces Team for European Championships

Ireland has announced its team for the IPC Swimming European Championship which will takes place from 3 -10 July in Berlin.

The nine strong team features many swimmers who will not only be hoping to challenge for medals in the German capital but also qualify for the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

David Malone, Ireland Team Manager, said: "We have selected a very strong team to represent Ireland at the 2011 IPC European swimming Championships; the team has a great mix of youth and experience with four of the athletes going to compete in their first European championships.

“Our swimmers will be competing to make finals and compete for medals, but also to meet qualification times for the London 2012 Paralympic Games, so we expect the level of competition to be extremely high, we are looking forward to a really exciting swimming meet.”

The line up includes 16-year-old Ellen Keane, who reached the finals of the 100m Breaststroke (SB9) in the Beijing 2008 Paralympics, despite being aged only 13 at the time. She’ll be swimming in six races in Berlin, including 100m Breaststroke (SB9) and 200m Individual Medley (SM9).

Also in the team are Gina Lourens, Bethany Firth, James Hamiltin, Matthew Bell, Darragh McDonald, Stephen Campbell, Laurence McGivern, Jonathan McGrath and James Scully.