Larne swimmers Conor Ferguson and Nathan Wiffen miss out on individual spots at Paris Olympics

Competing in the 100m backstroke, Ferguson was 0.25s outside the qualifying mark as his final chance went begging.

However, Ferguson could still secure a spot in the medley relay squad for the summer Games.

His Larne club-mate Danielle Hill booked her plane ticket to Paris in the women’s 100m backstroke on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Wiffen was paced by his brother Daniel in the 800m freestyle but his qualifying target time began to slip away in the final 200m.

He set a personal best of 7:54.69 which was outside the OQT mark of 7:51.65.

The twin brothers will swim together on Saturday morning in the heats of the 1500m, when Nathan will have a second opportunity to join his brother in Paris.

In the semi-finals of the 100m freestyle, Hill fended off Ards teenager Grace Davison and Belfast’s Victoria Catterson.

Davison (16) set a new Irish Junior Record of 55.88.

The trio will be up against each other again in Friday’s final.

Tom Fannon became Ireland’s fifth swimmer to qualify for the Games after he bettered his Irish senior record in the 50m freestyle, which was 0.02 inside the qualifying mark.

Fannon, whose grandfather is from Galway, represented England at the 2018 Commonwealth Games before transferring to Ireland in 2021.