The 2024 Irish Summer Youth and Senior Championships got underway on Tuesday, July 21, in the National Aquatic Centre on the Sport Ireland Campus, a venue that just hosted the holding camp for the Paris 2024 Olympians.

The competition would run over five days of preliminaries and finals.

Top swimmers from 60 clubs, both Irish and overseas, would battle the lanes for podium finishes and national titles.

During five days of gruelling competition at the Irish youth and senior nationals, 16-year-old Enniskillen local Jamie Lannon competed in six events: the 50m Freestyle; 50m,100m,200m Breaststroke; 200m Individual Medley, and 100m Butterfly.

Having already achieved the national performance qualification in the 100m Breaststroke earlier in the year, Jamie was able to devote more time to his other events at this championship, a strategy that really paid off.

Having won the silver medal in the 100m Breaststroke on day one, Jamie really shined on day two.

He was seeded 6th for both the 50m and 100m Butterfly back-to-back A finals.

Although an outsider, Jamie improved his seeding in the 16-year-old Freestyle final in an incredible 25.24s, earning him the silver medal.

With one 16-year-old already in a super final, only two podium spots were left in this Butterfly final.

In one of the most exciting races of the competition, Jamie put on an incredible performance of power and race skill, which saw him touch the wall first, just 12 milliseconds ahead of the swimmers beside him.

Jamie was thrilled to break the one-minute mark in a time of 59.87 seconds and win the silver medal.

Jamie continued his success with a significant PB of six seconds across the preliminary and A final of the 200m Individual Medley, finishing at 2:18.44s and fifth overall.

Throughout the competition, Jamie achieved three silver medals, two highest improvement certificates, multiple personal bests, and a top-five Irish 16-year-old boy finishes.

It is Jamie's consistency, hard work and determination and the support of his coaches and teammates in Longford Swimming Club which has seen him make steady progress across all strokes.

Jamie has developed into a formidable athlete which see him now progress from regional to national squad qualification an accolade which is well deserved this season.