With the Olympics fast approaching, BBC Sport NI has you covered to follow our athletes in Tokyo.
With three Northern Irish swimmers in Japan representing Team Ireland, here’s where you can follow their initial heats and potential medal races:
Jack McMillan
4x200m freestyle relay
27 July (11:00-13:30 – heats) & 28 July (02:30-04:30 – final)
McMillan was a member of the quartet that secured Ireland’s first ever male Olympic relay qualification at the European Championships in May as they set a new national record.
Coached in Bangor by Paul Dennis, he came within 0.09 seconds of qualifying for the individual 200m freestyle. Thought of as one of Ireland’s up and coming talents, he had an impressive junior record, winning 2018 World Schools Games gold in the 200m freestyle, and silver in the 100m freestyle.
Danielle Hill
100m backstroke
25 July (11:00-13:30 – heats), 26 July (02:30-04:30 – semi-final), 27th July (0230-0430 – final)
50m freestyle
30 July (11:00-13:30 – heats), 31 July (02:30-04:30 – semi-final), 1st August (02:30-04:30 – final)
Despite only being 21, Hill is already a two-time Commonwealth Games swimmer, having represented Northern Ireland in Glasgow in 2014 and Gold Coast four years later where she reached the final of the 100m backstroke.
Hill showed her competitiveness by making the Olympic team at her final opportunity at the trials last month, setting a new national record to do so. Coached by Peter Hill in Larne, she is currently the Irish senior record holder in four events – the 50m, 100m freestyle, 50m, 100m backstroke.
Daniel Wiffen
800m freestyle
27 July (11:00-13:30 – heats) & 29 July (02:30-04:30 – final)
1500m freestyle
30 July (11:00-13:30 – heats) & 1 August (02:30-04:30 – final)
Wiffen surprised everyone, but not himself, by becoming the first qualifier for Tokyo at the Irish trials in April in the very first race of the event as he clocked seven minutes 52.68 seconds in the 800m freestyle.
The swimmer is from Magheralin in Co Down and swims for Larne but in recent times has been based at Loughborough University studying computer science. He’s the Irish senior record holder in the 800m and 1500m freestyle and will swim in both events in Tokyo. He started swimming with his identical twin brother Nathan.
*All times are listed as BST
