SWIMMING/European Short Course:Andrew Bree says he will head into 2008 more confident than ever that he will make a strong showing at the Olympics in Beijing.
On Saturday night, in the final of the 200 metres breaststroke in the European Short Course championships in Debrecen, Hungary, Bree finished sixth but was pushed up to fifth when fourth-placed Grigory Falko of Russia, the 100 metres champion, was disqualified.
Bree was delighted with his performance in the heats in the morning, smashing his Irish record in two minutes 07.95 seconds, and entering the final third-quickest.
But he was unable to repeat the time in the evening final, coming home in 2:08.23.
Hungary's defending champion Daniel Gyurta - the 2004 Olympic silver medallist - took gold in a European record 2:05.49, followed by Italian Paolo Bossini in 2:05.82.
Bree, who suffered a knee injury on Saturday night while warming up, had mixed emotions as he left the water, believing he should have repeated his silver medal performance of four years ago in Dublin.
But having qualified for the Olympics in the summer at the long course US National Championships, and gone four seconds quicker than in last year's European short course championships, he knew this was another important step towards Beijing.
"I felt so good after the swim in the morning that I thought I was going to get a medal. I know that I could have gone faster, but you know I didn't swim the race I was supposed to," Bree said.
"I was taking six strokes each length and gliding a little into the wall for my turns, so I lost time there.
"It's annoying and frustrating, because I had a medal within me and I came out of the water ready to do another race, so it shows my conditioning has improved a lot.
"Last year I didn't even make the final, so I have to be pleased overall and I broke my own Irish record. Now I can look ahead to 2008 feeling great and knowing there is a lot more to come from me."
Meanwhile, 17-year-old Aisling Cooney has proved over the past four days she is a talent to watch over the coming years.
On Saturday, Dubliner Cooney set an Irish senior record for the 50 metres backstroke, clocking 29.35, breaking the best set by Niamh O'Connor back in 1991. It was the oldest remaining Irish women's record.
Irish team coach Mary Garvey said: "With this being Aisling's first major championships I think she has shown tremendous maturity. She has performed on the big stage, and not every swimmer can do that."
Cooney added: "I'm delighted with how I have performed here. It's been great to be here among some of the best swimmers in the world and hopefully this is just the start for me."
Meanwhile, Melanie Nocher was celebrating an Irish senior record on Friday night in Belfast at the Ulster championships in the 200 metres backstroke when she clocked 2:09.08, beating the previous best held by Michelle de Bruin.
