Ellie McCartney fell just short of adding to Ireland’s record medal haul on day four of the European Short-Course Championships in Lublin, Poland, finishing a close fifth in the 200 metres breaststroke final.
The 20-year-old from Enniskillen had qualified fastest from the semi-finals and was right in the medal hunt at the halfway point. Fading slightly from there, McCartney touched home in fifth in 2:19.90, the gold medal going to Anna Elendt from Germany in 2:18.16
“Very disappointed, I’m not going to lie,” said McCartney afterwards. “I know my semi-final time would have got me a medal there. There are positives, but that race should have been better.”
John Shortt was looking to add to his gold medal already won on the 200m backstroke, but he had to settle for seventh place in the 100m distance, although his 50.10 seconds once again broke his own Irish record.
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Starting in lane eight, the 18-year-old from Galway couldn’t quite get himself into medal contention this time, as Olympic champion Thomas Ceccon from Italy took the gold in 49.29.
“Pretty happy, it’s already been a massive week,” said Shortt. “I’ve loved every single minute of this week, we’ve an incredible team out here, it’s been really good so far.”
Shortt does leave Lublin as only the second Irish swimmer to ever break a world record in swimming, producing a stunning performance to claim 200m backstroke gold in 1:47.89, a world junior record.
Ellen Walshe has also put herself in contention for a medal in the 200m individual medley on Saturday, the Dublin swimmer winning her semi-final in 2:06.63 after an excellent last 50m which saw her move from second to first.
Daniel Wiffen is on course to defend his 800m freestyle title after safely negotiating his Friday morning heat. Wiffen was back in the pool after successfully defending his 1,500m freestyle title in thrilling style on Thursday night, and the Armagh swimmer did all that was required to make Saturday’s 800m final, placing second in his heat in 7:34.60.
That ranks him fourth fastest among the final qualifiers, but Wiffen appears to have plenty more in reserve. Two years ago he won this title with a world record of 7:20.46. Germany’s Johannes Liebmann is the top seed for the final after he set a new world and European junior record of 7:30.94 in the second heat.
“Feeling pretty good, I tried to make it as comfortable as possible,” said Wiffen, who also won 400m bronze last Tuesday. “It felt really good surprisingly, I thought I’d be holding a bit of fatigue. I’m happy, the time is decent and I’m ready for tomorrow night.”
“I’m a four-time European champion. I remember the first one, I took all the glory but I’m now here to do a job, and that’s to win the event I came here for. I’m excited, I’m the world record holder so it’s good to defend my title. I got to see my name beside the world record on the screen for the first time.”
It’s just three months since the 24-year-old Wiffen had his appendix removed, also recently moving to a new training base in California. The Olympic 800m champion made his first big breakthrough in the 25-metre pool in Otopeni, Romania two years ago, winning the 400m-800m-1,500m treble.
After his joint bronze in the 200m freestyle, Evan Bailey was also back in the pool for the men’s 100m freestyle heats. His time of 47.53 was a lifetime best, just not enough to progress.
“I’m happy enough with that,” he said. “To come back and swim that off the back of last night, it was a bit of a sleepless night. It [the bronze medal] hasn’t really sunk in yet, it’s a bit of a crazy feeling, it feels a bit like a dream and hasn’t really happened – it was probably one of the best moments of my life."
It means Irish swimmers have now won freestyle medals in the 200m, 400m, and 1,500m, with Wiffen on course to make it freestyle number four in the 800m.
Also in the 100m freestyle, Cormac Rynn knocked half a second off his best time of 49.61 clocking 49.02, while Matthew Hamilton clocked 49.80, and Adam Bradley 50.02. In the women’s 100m freestyle heats, Rosalie Phelan swam a personal best 54.16, knocking almost a second off her best.
In the US overnight, Mona McSharry got her long course (50m) season underway with a gold medal in the 50m breaststroke at the US Open in Austin. McSharry clocked 30.80 in the heats, lowering that to 30.48 in the final to top the podium. The Olympic bronze medallist will also race the 100m breaststroke.
