Conor Ferguson: Larne swimmer’s hopes of individual Olympic spot dashed

Larne swimmer Conor Ferguson has missed out on securing an individual Olympic Games spot after clocking a time of 53.99 seconds in the 100m backstroke final at the Irish trials in Dublin.

The 24-year-old’s time was 0.25 seconds outside the Paris qualifying mark.

After clocking a personal best of 53.87 seconds in his opening heat on Wednesday which was followed by a 54.12 semi-final swim, Thursday’s final was Ferguson’s last chance to book Paris qualification in his specialist individual event.

Ferguson, was on target after reaching halfway in 25.9 seconds, could still secure relay qualification for the Games.

The Northern Irishman has been chasing his Olympic dream for eight years.

As a 16-year-old he missed out on Rio by 0.05 of a second.

He then missed out on qualification for the Tokyo Games by 0.47 seconds before being 0.13 shy on this occasion.

Ferguson’s Larne club-mate Danielle Hill secured Olympic qualification in the women’s 100m backstroke on Wednesday.