News

Irish swimmer Ellie McCartney has claimed a bronze medal in the 200m Individual Medley on the final day of racing at the LEN European Junior Championships in Serbia, Belgrade.

McCartney joins four Irish swimmers as medal winners at the event that includes Grainne Murphy, Sycerika McMahon, Mona McSharry, and Conor Ferguson.

McCartney, who swims at National Centre Ulster and is a member of Ards Swimming put in a personal best performance when it counted most, clocking 2:14.31. The 18-year-old from Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh had been fourth overall in the heats (2:16.48) and semi-final (2:14.93) but had the swim of her life to move up the rankings to third and claim her first international medal.

A delighted McCartney said “I’m speechless after tonight’s final, delighted to have earned a medal on the final race of my junior career, I couldn’t have done it without the support of my coaches, teammates, and parents.”

Great Britain’s Leah Schlosshan set a new Championship Record to claim gold in 2:12.41 with team-mate Phoebe Cooper taking silver in 2:13.28. In 2009 Grainne Murphy won gold in the event in 2:14.22.

Earlier today, Cora Rooney, Molly Mayne, Alana Burns-Atkin and Grace Davison combined for a time of 4:16.28 for fifteenth place overall in the Women’s 4×100, Medley Relay.

National Performance Pathway Manager and Team Leader for the event Andy Reid commented ‘What a way to finish off a fantastic meet, congratulations to Ellie. The team have been amazing all week with multiple finals, semi finals and personal best swims. The support they have given each other has been outstanding. Congratulations to the athletes and their home programme coaches on a very successful meet.’

Many of the swimmers competing on the European Juniors team will compete again this Summer at either the LEN U23 Swimming Championships in Dublin, the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago or the European Youth Olympic Festival in Maribor, Slovenia, while 200m Backstroke Finalist John Shortt joins the World Championships team in Japan later this month.

Day 6 Results:

• 200m Individual Medley                   Ellie McCartney            P 2:16.48 (4)     SF 2:14.93 (4)      F 2:14.31 (3)
• Women 4 x 100m Medley Relay      Ireland                         4:16.28 (15)