Bryan on a high following championships in Shanghai

SHANNON’S Chris Bryan turned in a fantastic performance to finish in eighth place at the 5km open-water event at the World Swimming Championships in Shanghai last week.
It was a great result for the 21-year-old who was just 11 seconds behind gold medallist Thomas Lurz in a time of 56 minutes 28 seconds.
He had already come through a difficult 10km race, in which he didn’t perform as he had hoped. “The conditions out there were tough and I hadn’t much experience of them. During the race, there was 32˚C heat. The 10km was the first event and I found it hard enough. I swam it wrong, I was a bit weary and I hung on near the back of the group but there was a fast pace the whole time and it meant a lot of work at the back. When groups split, I was left at the wrong end of it, so I was a bit disappointed with the 10km. I finished 33rd out of 68.”
But the experience stood to him in the shorter distance. “In the 5km, I kind of knew what to expect. I started in the middle and I stayed in the top 15. I knew I could do a lot better than I had done in the 10km. The 10km could have done with a bit of work but it’s all about getting experience. The average age of the top 10 in the 10km was 28 and I’m only 21 so it’s good experience. It was my first world championship and I hadn’t been in those conditions before so it’s all a learning curve,” he said.
Competing in temperatures of 32˚C was never going to suit an Irish swimmer but Chris says he proved he can cope with such conditions and he is now concentrating on qualifying for the London Olympics, at which 10km will be the only open-water distance.
“It took almost an hour to cool down after the races. I was sweating, I could barely dry myself. It was very hot but I showed in the 5km that I can still perform in those conditions. It’s only going to get better from here, the next Olympic qualifier isn’t until June of next year and the conditions will be much cooler so it’ll be better for me. I’ve made a lot of progress in the last year and next year will be another huge leap I think, I’m very positive about the outlook.”
Summer is when most open-water swimming events are held and he has a busy schedule. “I’m in Holland this weekend for the final of the European Cup series. It’s the last leg and if I have a good performance there. Hopefully, I’ll win the cup outright, that’d be brilliant.
“The top 35 in the 10km in Shanghai have been invited to an Olympic test event in London, the Olympic distance will be done in the same venue and I’d like to do well in that. The European Championships are on the first weekend of September in Israel so I’m going to do the 5km and 10k there. There’s a lot of racing over the rest of the summer,” he concluded.