GRACE Davison showed her class once again on the closing night of the European Junior Swimming Championships in Slovakia, winning the bronze medal in the 200m Individual Medley in a personal best time of 2:14.05, her second bronze in two days having won in the 100m Freestyle on Saturday night.
The Paris Olympian had a fight on her hands and showed her steel throughout the race.
As Davison and her competitors headed into the freestyle leg, Davison showed the fight to get her hand on the wall first and light up the blocks, winning her third European Junior bronze by 0.14 of a second.
After the race, the Ards swimmer said: “I’m ecstatic, I’m very glad it’s all over, I’ve had a lot of racing this week. Going through the heats, semis and finals isn’t something that I was really used to, but we’ve had to do a lot more of
On winning bronze in a tightly contested race, she added: “It was pure grit and determination, I know how it feels from winning a medal last year, it feels so much better this year, especially to walk away with two individually.
“For Ireland to come away with four is unbelievable, for people back home, even the younger ones will definitely look up to that. For Ireland to be consistently on the medal table, and high up at all levels is amazing.”
On the support, she said: “It’s unreal, you probably don’t see much of it on the livestream, the guys are all here from every semi-final, every final, some even the heats.
“To walk out and hear all of them is unbelievable, we have been one of the loudest. To have so many parents here is great, my parents and sister are here, they’ve never all watched me swim at something like this, I really feel the support from here and back home.”
Mary Peters Trust supported Davison now sets her sights on the World Junior Championships.
