McMillan takes gold and beats Bree’s record

JACK McMillan flowed through the water to a new Irish record in the 200m individual medley on the opening night of the Irish short course championships in the Laganvalley Leisureplex, smashing the 15-year-old time held by Andrew Bree.

The gold medal winning time drew a smile from Irish swimming great Bree, who just happened to be commentating on the race as 18-year-old McMillan, from Bangor, clocked a new record of 1:58.36 — 0.06 inside the two-time Olympian’s best.

It was the perfect start to the championships for the teenager, who is regarded as one of the stars of the future and his record came on a day when Ulster swimmers dominated.

The morning heats saw Mona McSharry of the Marlins club in Ballyshannon set a new Irish record for the 50m freestyle, touching in 25.03, before returning to win gold last night in 25.22.

McSharry, 18, also picked up gold in the 200m IM in 2:12.76 ahead of Niamh Kilgallen on 2:13.36 and Rebecca Reid of Ards in 2:18.83. Reid also won silver in the 100m backstroke in 1:02.25, with gold won by Kilkenny’s Maria Godden in 1:02.15. Bethany Firth took bronze, 1:02.43.

Amelia Kane of Ards impressively won gold in the 200m butterfly in 2:15.20 ahead of clubmate Ellie McKibben.

Cookstown’s Callum Bain struck gold in the 50m freestyle in 22.22, ahead of Bangor’s David Thompson, while Rachel Bethel took the 800m free title.

McMillan was back in the pool with Bangor team-mates, Jordan Sloan, Curtis Coulter and David Thompson to win the 4x50m freestyle relay in 1:29.84 — breaking the previous record held by Ards.