Portarlington's Ryan breaks Irish record in impressive Olympic display

Shane Ryan, the Irish American swimmer representing Ireland at the Olympics, has broken the Irish record for the 100m butterfly in his heat in Tokyo this morning.

Ryan, whose father hails from Portarlington is no stranger to the town and has visited and stayed in town in recent years.

His came home strong in his hear to take fourth place in a time of 52.52 seconds to break the previous record set by Brendan Hyland.

It has been a mixed Olympics for him so far. Just a couple of days ago he was part of the Ireland 4x200m relay team, the first time Ireland had a team qualify for that event.

However, he withdrew from the 100m Backstroke earlier this week due to a shoulder issue when doing the stroke, but showed no signs of discomfort during today’s swim. After the race, Ryan spoke of the team spirit among the Team Ireland swimmers.

“The atmosphere is just great, everyone’s just bouncing off each other, there’s no negativity whatsoever…they’re just so supportive no matter what you do, I heard them up at the stairs cheering for me – I always give them a little look because I’m not only swimming for myself, but for them as well and everyone back at home,” he said.

His swim this morning wasn't good enough to make a semi final but his record breaking time has seen him move up from a 48th place ranking to 37th overall in the 100m butterfly