BY MICHAEL O’LEARY
Maria Godden from Callan is making plenty of waves in the water with her exploits in the swimming pool, and next week she will be in Bucharest, Romania as part of the Irish Team to compete in the European Shortcourse Championships from 6th-10th December.
The Callan native has been making great strides in recent years, and in February (early 2024) she will be the first from Kilkenny Swimming Club to compete at a World Championships as she will represent Ireland in Doha in Qatar.
Maria’s specialist event is the backstroke, and she won Double Gold in both the 100 and 200 metres at the All-Ireland Championships in qualifying for the Worlds and Europeans.
Maria will Swim in both events in both The Worlds and Europeans, while she will possibly be involved as part of the Relay panel in the Romanian Capital.
She trains in The National Centre at The University of Limerick where she is studying but still represents Kilkenny Swimming Club, and their is whirlwind excitement ahead of her adventures over the next few months where she will compete against Europe and the Worlds best.
She is coached in Limerick by John Szaranek and with a 50 metre pool located in The National Centre, she gets to experience top class coaching combined with the best facilities available.
Maria has been busy on The International stage this year having competed in The European U-23 Championships in Dublin in August, where she performed extremely well having qualified for all three finals that she Swam in.
The UL student has enjoyed plenty of success to date, and last year at The Nationals she won 4 Gold Medals to confirm her undoubted talent.
A hat-trick of her Gold Medals came in the backstroke events over 50 metres, 100 and 200 metres, while also winning Gold in The 400 metre freestyle event.
With her continous and constant improvements, the skys the limit for Maria ahead of a massive few months.
Wishing her all the very best in her adventures.
