Nov 10,2024
Daniel Wiffen won the Swimmer of the Year Award at Swim Ireland's awards ceremony at the Dunboyne Castle Hotel on Friday night after a year which culminated in Olympic glory for the Armagh man.
Wiffen became an Olympic champion in the 800m freestyle, an Olympic bronze medallist in the 1500m freestyle, a double World Champion, a triple European short course champion and a world record holder in the short course 800m freestyle in 2024.
Róisín NíRiain's silver medal in the 100m backstroke S13 event and her bronze in the 200m individual medley SM13 at Paris 2024 saw her named Para Swimmer of the Year.
Jake Passmore won the Diver of the Year award for his performances at the World Championships and Olympic Games, while he was also a finalist in the World Cup Super-Final in April.
Ellen Keane was inducted into the Swim Ireland Hall of Fame as the recently-retired Keane was honoured for a remarkable career which spanned five Paralympic Games.
Cork club Sunday’s Well SC received the Club of the Year award after being selected from a shortlist of four which also included Aer Lingus Masters SC, Bluefin SC and Larne SC.
The Water Polo Player of the Year awards went to Matthew Hynes of St Vincents and Méabh McGurk of Diamonds Water Polo Club. Both were involved in Irish Senior Cup-winning teams, while McGurks heroics in the Cup final contributed to the sides first Irish Senior Cup win.
European Junior bronze medallist Grace Davison was honoured with the Female Performance Pathway Athlete of the Year for swimming and after a fantastic season where she qualified to the Olympic Games, competing on two relays.
Dearbhaile Brady won the Female Performance Pathway Para Swimming prize having won World Series and European Championships medals, and making her Paralympics debut, finishing fifth in the 50m butterfly.
National Centre Limerick’s John Shortt won the Male Performance Pathway Athlete of the Year award after becoming Ireland’s first male European Junior champion, winning gold in the 200m backstroke and silver in the 100m backstroke in Lithuania in July.
NíRiain’s National Centre Limerick coach John Szaranek and head coach of Templeogue Swim Team and coach to Olympic finalist Ellen Walshe, Brian Sweeney, were jointly awarded the Performance Coach of the Year accolade, while Ards’ Curtis Coulter won the Performance Pathway Coach of the Year award for his work with Grace Davison.
Discipline awards were made to Jane Jolly (Masters), Dave Berry (Open Water) and Gregory Walshe (Disability), while Dolphin Swimming Club’s Mike Murphy was awarded Official of the Year and Drogheda’s Ciaran Doyle Club Coach of the Year.
Four volunteers were honoured for their work within their clubs and regions, Fionnuala O’Neill from Leinster, Pat McTigue from Munster, Natasha Walshe from Connacht and Catherine Hanratty from Ulster.
Introduced as a new award in 2024, four individuals received Outstanding Contribution to Aquatics awards, Keith Lynch (Water Polo), Aqualine (Aquatics), Peter Conway (Swimming & Open Water), and Ian Wright (Swimming) where honoured for their contributions to their respective disciplines.
Swim Ireland president Alison Honan dedicated her President’s award to Ulster’s Linda Stoops for her outstanding contribution to the Ulster region over many years.
