Blistering Bain lays down an impressive marker in Abu Dhabi

CALUM Bain laid down an impressive marker for 2022 at the FINA World Short Course Championships in Abu Dhabi before Christmas.

Having not raced on the international stage in two years due to the ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic, the Moy native showed he has lost none of his pace in the water, equalling his lifetime best in the 50 metres freestyle, setting a new PB in the 50 metres butterfly and helping Ireland set a new national senior record in the 4×100 metres relay.

The former Cookstown Swimming Club member, who turned 25 just two days after Christmas, travelled out to Abu Dhabi with the Ireland squad keen to impress.

And while he was a little disappointed with his time in the 50 metres freestyle, he was pleased with his overall performances, which saw him record a joint-PB of 21.61 seconds in his main event, a time of 23.46 in the butterfly and he helped team-mates, Brendan Hyland, Jack McMillan and Jordan Sloan to an Irish record of 3:12.94 in the relay.

“It was my first international competition in a few years so it was nice to get away and to race in that environment again,” he beamed.

“I was happy enough with how it went in terms of my performance but I would have liked to have done a little bit better.

“I equalled my lifetime best in the 50 free and I had a lifetime best in the 50 fly but I would have liked to have pushed on my time in the free a bit.

“The relay went quite well, we were ninth, so we just missed out on the final but we set an Irish senior record which was nice.

“It was annoying to miss out on the final, which would have been a good one.”

Overall, Bain thoroughly enjoyed the experience of returning to the top level of the sport and competing in a different kind of arena and atmosphere than he’s used to.

“We arrived out the same day the F1 was taking place and then a couple of the F1 guys stayed on to test their tyres so we could go an watch them in between training and stuff,” he added.

“We had a week there before hand so we could go and see things like that and then the arena where we were competing is where [Conor] McGregor had his fight when he broke his leg.

“It was weird because they have started building pools in stadiums now but it’s quite cool to have your sporting event where other things have taken place. It was cool!”

In 2022, Bain has plenty to focus on and he will be hoping that his performances in Abu Dhabi are a sign of things to come with the Irish team trials in March ahead of the World Championships, European Championships and Commonwealth Games, all of which take place between May and the end of the summer.