Ireland Relays Both 13th at World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka

 

Ireland’s Women’s and Men’s 4x100m Medley Relays both finished in thirteenth position in this morning’s heats at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, provisionally placing them within the sixteen relay spots available for Paris 2024. Fukuoka is the first opportunity for relays to qualify for the Games, with a second and final opportunity at the Doha 2024 World Championships where relays can be moved up or down the rankings.

The women’s team of Danielle Hill (Backstroke), Mona McSharry (Breaststroke), Ellen Walshe (Butterfly) and Victoria Catterson (Freestyle) set a new Irish Record when they combined for a time of 4:01.25. The quartet had held the previous standard of 4:02.93 from the 2021 European Championships.

Speaking after the race Hill said, ‘It was nice to get out there with the girls, I think it’s only maybe the second time we raced together so I think the more we do it, the more we’re going to learn, and that’s what we’ve got to take from this, thirteenth is a nice place to be, but we would like more.’

McSharry added ‘I was really excited to get to finish the meet with the girls, get out there, just have fun and enjoy it, this is only the start for us, it’s going to be really exciting to see what we can do next year’.

Catterson added ‘It’s always a privilege to be included and to be able to race with these girls, it was us exact four who held the record, so to show we’re coming on in such big amounts only shows what’s to come. Thirteenth is a decent place to be but we’re always going to be looking for higher, we’re not satisfied with being comfortable in thirteenth we want to solidify our place and get to Paris’.

Ireland’s Men’s team of Conor Ferguson (Backstroke), Darragh Greene (Breaststroke), Max McCusker (Butterfly) and Shane Ryan (Freestyle) came home in 3:35.03 to win their heat, just 0.41 outside of the Irish Record of 3:34.62 set in 2021.

Conor Ferguson led out the team in the first leg in his second fastest time ever in the 100m Backstroke clocking 54.14 ‘I’m absolutely delighted with that, I’m even more delighted to be able to lead that relay off for the boys, it’s been a phenomenal trip, and camp’. Darragh Greene added ‘It was good, definitely a lot more we can play with, it’s a really promising team with Shane on the back end now and Max on Butterfly so really looking forward to where this can go.’

Shane Ryan, competing at his third World Championships said ‘It was a great honour getting to represent Ireland in a relay, especially at World level and all the boys really went in there concentrated and knew what we needed to do and what teams we needed to beat and we ended up placing thirteenth and we still have a lot to drop there because this is the first time we’re all swimming together, first time I’m doing Freestyle, we’ve a lot more to give which is really really exciting’.

McCusker added ‘We’ve all been together for three weeks, there’s good energy between all of us, like Shane said we’ve got a lot of room to move forward there’.

Ellen Walshe was also in action in the 400m Individual Medley this morning. Walshe had last raced on the opening day of competition, where she secured an Olympic Qualification Time in the 200m Individual Medley. Today, Walshe swam her fourth fastest time ever in the event of 4:43.24 to finish in sixteenth place overall.

Speaking after the race the 22-year-old said ‘It’s been a challenge to sit back for six days and you’re kind of out of the competition and to come back today and try to be as included as you can, standing on the block with the girls after the 400 IM is going to be a tough turnaround but I’m proud of the girls and I know we’ve got more to give.’

Later today, Daniel Wiffen swims the 1500m Freestyle Final. Wiffen is the second ranked swimmer going into the race and has the fastest lifetime best of all eight qualifiers. The 1500m Freestyle Final take place at 12.16pm (Ireland)

 

Sunday 29th July Results

Women 400m Individual Medley Ellen Walshe 4:43.24 (16th)

Men 4x100m Medley Relay Ireland 3:35.03 (13th)

Women 4x100m Medley Relay Ireland 4:01.25 (13th)

 

Sunday 29th July Schedule

Men 1500m Freestyle Daniel Wiffen 12.16pm (Ireland)

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 three 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