Swim Ireland - Walshe Advances to World Championships Semi-Final; Freestyle Relay Smash Irish Record

 

Ireland’s Ellen Walshe got the opening day of swimming at the World Aquatics Championships underway today progressing to the semi-final of the 200m Individual Medley while Ireland’s Women’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay set a new Irish Record.

It was a busy morning for Walshe who doubled up with the 200m Individual Medley and 100m Butterfly, two of her main events. The Templeogue swimmer was impressive in the Medley swim, clocking 2:12.83, just outside her Irish Record of 2:12.02, for sixth in her heat and sixteenth overall.

Speaking after her swim, the 21-year-old commented ‘It’s not like the swim I hoped for but I’m glad to be back in the semi-final tonight. I’ve got nothing to lose going into the semi-final, so I’ll give it my best.’

Walshe was back in the pool just 40 minutes later for the 100m Butterfly where she touched in 59.44 to finish twenty fourth overall.

The 200m Individual Medley semi-final takes place today at 1:01pm.

Mona McSharry, Erin Riordan, Danielle Hill, and Victoria Catterson combined in the 4x100m Freestyle Relay to set a new Irish Record of 3:41.75. The quartet, who held the previous record, knocked two and a half seconds off the time of 3:44.37 set at the 2021 European Championships.

The team finished in fifteenth overall, placing them within the top sixteen nations for Paris 2024 for now, a second opportunity will be available for teams at the 2024 Doha World Aquatics Championships.

Commenting after the swim McSharry said ‘Pretty happy, I think it’s always nice to get to start the meet off with a group of people doing a relay, I think it’s fun that way to experience everything for the first time together, that’s always nice and getting a record is great too’.

Darragh Greene made his Fukuoka debut in the heats of the 100m Breaststroke. The Longford native, who trains at Swim Ireland’s National Centre in Dublin was sixth in his heat in 1:00.54 for nineteenth overall, just .32 of a second off a semi-final place.

Greene returns for the 50m Breaststroke on Tuesday.

 

Sunday 23rd July Results

Women 200m IM Ellen Walshe 2:12.83 (16th)   

Women 100m Butterfly Ellen Walshe 59.44 (24th)                      

Men 100m Breaststroke Darragh Greene 1:00.54 (19th)  

Women 4x100m Freestyle Relay Ireland 3:41.75 (15th)                  

Sunday 23rd July Finals Schedule

Women 200m IM Semi-Final Ellen Walshe 1:01pm (IRE)

The World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka is the first of three opportunities for Irish swimmers to secure individual Olympic places, the second being the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar in February 2024, and the third being the Irish Open Swimming Championships in May 2024. For relays, the top 3 teams in Olympic relay events in Fukuoka will confirm places for Paris, with the remaining thirteen teams coming from the top times in Fukuoka and the Doha World Aquatics Championships.

Swimming at the World Aquatics Championships will take place from Sunday 23rd to Sunday 30th July.

Trish Mayon Head of Communications and Sponsorship Liaison