Irish International Diver Clare Cryan Announces her Retirement
2024 European Championships bronze medallist Clare Cryan has announced her retirement from competitive diving. Cryan retires after a stellar performance at the European Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, in June, where she won Ireland’s first senior international medal for Diving courtesy of the 3M Springboard.
Cryan, who first competed for Ireland in 2018 is a multiple time World and European Championships semi-finalist and finalist. In 2018 she won Ireland’s first Diving Grand Prix medal in the 3M Springboard. The 30-year-old followed that up in 2019 with Grand Prix Bronze, when she teamed up with Oliver Dingley in the 3M Mixed Synchro. Also in 2019, Cryan had her best World Championships result with an eleventh-place finish in the 1M Springboard in South Korea.
Cryan is the current Irish Record holder in both the 1m and 3M Springboard.
Speaking on the announcement Cryan said “It is not an easy decision to retire from something you love doing, but I am happy that I have been able to make this decision on my own and for all the right reasons. Diving has given me so much more than the ability to fling myself of high things (somewhat gracefully) and the opportunities to perform on the international stage, I have gained so many friends and learnt a lot about myself that I can take forwards with me in my next chapter. I will be forever grateful to Swim Ireland and Sport Ireland for all their support, knowledge and attention to detail. I know none of this would have been possible without them. I may not have always had the satisfying performances that I trained so hard for, but now, reflecting on my career, I know that I have surpassed the expectations I had on myself when I was starting on this journey 21 years ago, and that is something to be very proud of. I look forward to watching my teammates continue their progression and will be cheering loudly at the TV. I hope that I can continue to be involved supporting aquatics (and Diving) in the isle of Ireland.
National Diving Head Coach Damian Ball commented ‘Clare brought a superior energy level to training and competition, and it was a real privilege to have been one of Clare’s coaches over the last 7 years. Clare was well respected by the international diving community and should be proud of all she has achieved in the sport at club, national and international level. A wonderful person and a true professional, and I wish her all the very best for the future.
National Performance Director Jon Rudd was to say, “Clare has made an outstanding contribution to Irish diving and aquatic sports throughout her illustrious career – not just as an international medallist but also through her character, personality and warmth which has been highly significant within every National Team she has been on. She will be very much missed by us all as every team has been a better place in so many ways when Clare has been on it. We will do all we can to stay engaged with Clare into the future so that her knowledge and her highly personable nature continue to be part of Swim Ireland and our aquatic family going forwards”.
The post Irish International Diver Clare Cryan Announces her Retirement appeared first on Swim Ireland.