On the final day of competition at the 2011 European Short Course Swimming Championships in Szczecin, Poland, Ireland’s Melanie Nocher has won Ireland’s first medal of the championships, winning bronze in the final of the 200m Backstroke. Her time of 2:04.29 also set a new Irish and Ulster Senior Record for the Ards swimmer.

Ranked third heading into the morning heats, Nocher produced a great performance to set a new Irish Senior Record time of 2:05.00, the second best heat time – leaving her in lane 5 for the final. In that final, she swan a balanced race and was just beaten to the wall by winner, Ukranian Daryna Zevina, who set a new championship record time of 2:02.25, with silver going to Spanish swimmer Duane Da Rocha Marce (2:03.32).

Also on the final day Clare Dawson and Bethany Carson competed in the 200m Freestyle recording times of 2.00.20 and1.59.07 respectively.

On Day 3 Melanie Nocher had qualified for the final in the 400m Freestyle, ranked 9^th after the heats with a time of 4:06.05, but opted to withdraw to concentrate fully on her main event, the 200m Backstroke on Day 4.  Bethany Carson set another personal best and established a new Ulster Senior Record in the 100m Butterfly with a time of 1.00.80.

On Day 2 Bangor swimmer Clare Dawson set a new personal best and Ulster Senior Record today in the 800m Freestyle (8:36.90), a record she only established 4 weeks ago at the University Championships in England.

On Day 1 Melanie Nocher qualified for the semi-final of the 100m Backstroke event, setting a new Irish and Ulster Senior Record time of 59.37 in the heats. In the semi-final, she again broke the Irish Senior Record, and was unlucky to progress to the final, finishing in 15^th place in a time of 59.30.  Bethany Carson (Lisburn), who trains at the High Performance Centre at the NAC in Dublin, set a new personal best time in the heats of the 100m Freestyle (55.91), finishing just ahead of Clare Dawson (56.09), though neither progressed beyond the heats.

Results – Day 1

Bethany Carson – 100FREE 55.91

Clare Dawson – 100FREE 56.09

Melanie Nocher – 100BACK 59.37 (H); 59.30 (SF) Both Ulster and Irish Senior Records

Results – Day 2

Clare Dawson – 800FREE 8:36.90 (Ulster Senior Record)

Results – Day 3

Bethany Carson – 100FLY 1:00.80 (Ulster Senior Record)

Clare Dawson – 400FREE 4:11.24

Melanie Nocher – 400FREE 4:06.05

Results – Day 4

Bethany Carson – 200FREE 1:59.07

Clare Dawson – 200FREE 2:00.20

Melanie Nocher – 200BACK 2:05.00 (H) 2:04.29 (F) Both Ulster and Irish Records