DROWN TO BUSINESS

Niamh back in the pool but it’s such a strange feeling

- MICHAEL SCULLY

NIAMH COYNE experienced the strangest sensation when she finally returned to the water yesterday.

Forced to stay away from the pool for more than two months due to the coronavirus crisis, the 18-year-old Olympic hopeful admitted it felt like she was drowning.

“Just the weirdest feeling ever,” she said. “Of course I could still swim but it was just the feeling of the water everywhere around me, the pressure.

“It felt so strange because being in the water always felt like second nature to me. I had watched a video a few weeks ago of myself in the water and it seemed so alien to me.”

Paralympian Ellen Keane (inset) had predicted this would happen as she contemplated her return to the pool after so long away.