News

Morning Session

Double Olympian Ellen Walshe was the star of Tuesday morning of the Irish Open Championships as the Templeogue swimmer set a new Irish Record in the 200m Freestyle. Walshe now owns five Irish Senior long course records with the Freestyle, 100m and 200m Butterfly and 200m and 400m Individual Medley.

Entering the heats with a best time of 2:00.39 from the McCullagh International in February, the 23-year-old took over a second off her best time to come home in 1:59.31 and is now only the third Irishwoman to swim under the two-minute mark. Walshe broke Victoria Catterson’s mark of 1:59.74 from 2023.

Daniel and Nathan Wiffen lead the qualifiers for Wednesday’s 1500m Freestyle Final after the duo eased through the heats in 16:15.99 and 16:19.39 respectively. National Centre Limerick’s Daragh Horgan (16:27.44) and Denis O’Brien (16:33.04) qualified third and fourth.

400m and 1500m National Champion Clare Custer will take the centre lane for the 800m Freestyle Final on Wednesday in 9:08.42. The Sundays Well swimmer cruised to the top seed ahead of Aura Dundalk’s Rebekah Friel (9:20.87) and Aer Lingus’ Anna Nikishkina (9:26.83).

200m Freestyle National Champion Evan Bailey will be the top seed for this evening’s 100m Freestyle Semi-Final after a personal best swim of 49.17. The 20-year-old had already achieved consideration times for the World University Games and U23 Championships in the 200m Freestyle and now adds the 100m Freestyle to both events. The New Ross native finished ahead of three-time Olympian and Irish Record holder in the event Shane Ryan. Ryan clocked 49.49 with his best and Irish Record a 48.39 from Olympic Trials in 2024. In fourth place, but third Irish qualifier, Larne’s Thomas Leggett achieved consideration for the European U23 Championships in 50.16.

National Centre Limerick’s Ellie McCartney continued her excellent form on Tuesday morning adding a consideration time in the 200m Breaststroke to the 100m Breaststroke and 200m Individual Medley times already achieved for both the World University Games and European Aquatics U23 Championships. McCartney’s time of 2:26.39 is just off the World Aquatics Championships consideration time of 2:25.91 and the 20-year-old will no doubt be aiming for that when she goes as the top seed in Tuesday evening’s semi-final.

Eoin Corby is the top seed for the Men’s 200m Breaststroke Semi-Finals, the National Centre Limerick swimmer touching in 2:15.10 ahead of National Centre Dublin’s Liam O’Connor (2:20.28) and Bangor’s Adam Bradley (2:22.26).

After a gold medal win in the 100m Butterfly on Monday night, National Centre Limerick’s Jack Cassin was back in the pool and leads the qualifiers in the 200m Butterfly. Cassin, already under consideration for the European U23 Championships in the 100m Butterfly and 200m Freestyle adds the 200m Butterfly to his list in 2:00.09. In fifth place Blackrock’s Phelim Hanley achieved a consideration for the European Junior Championships in 2:06.86 and tenth overall Shea Mathers of Banbridge was under the consideration time for the European Youth Olympic Festival in 2:11.13.

The final event on Tuesday morning saw Olympian Danielle Hill lead the qualifiers in the 50m Freestyle. Hill will be the top seed for this evening’s Semi-Finals in 25.34 followed by National Centre Dublin’s Rosalie Phelan in 26.17 and Ards’ Grace Davison in 26.25.

Tuesday evening’s session will include Finals of the Female and Open 200m Backstroke, Female 100m Butterfly, Open 200m IM and Semi-Finals in the Female and Open 200m Breaststroke, Female 50m and 200m Freestyle, Open 200m Butterfly and 100m Freestyle.

Evening Session

Ellie McCartney and Ellen Walshe starred on the penultimate night of racing at the 2025 Irish Open Swimming Championships at the Sport Ireland National Aquatic Centre with McCartney locking in a consideration time for the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, bringing the number with times achieved to seven and Walshe lowering her newly minted 200m Freestyle Irish Record.

McCartney, who has been having the meet of her life in Dublin, secured a sensational Championship Record and consideration time for the World Aquatics Championships in the 200m Breaststroke Semi-Final. The 20-year-old, who came into the meet with a best time of 2:26.07, skipped over 2:25 to clock 2:24.35 and go well under the consideration time of 2:25.91 for the Singapore Championships. The National Centre Limerick swimmer now has consideration times for the European U23 Championships, World University Games and World Championships and is Ireland’s second fastest ever 100m and 200m female breaststroke swimmer behind Olympic bronze medallist Mona McSharry.

The 20-year-old from Enniskillen spoke after the race saying, “I’m over the moon, I never imagined to be 2:24, I thought it was going to be a push to make that A standard time but tonight I just wanted to give it my all, anything that was left in the tank from this week, just finish on a high.

“The 100 last night, it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to race Mona, she wasn’t at last year’s Irish Open, so I just want to make the most of an opportunity. I love going out and racing and to get anywhere close to Mona for me it’s mind blowing, it’s something I’ve always wanted to achieve, she pushes me and she inspires me.”

Walshe, who set a new Irish Record of 1:59.31 in the morning heats of the 200m Freestyle, became the first Irishwoman under 1:59 as she clocked 1:58.88 in the Semi-Final to progress as top seed to Wednesday’s Final. The Templeogue swimmer is still to compete in her main event, the 400m Individual Medley, where she is an Olympic Finalist, on Wednesday morning.

National Centre Ulster’s Lottie Cullen claimed the first hardware of the day in the Female 200m Backstroke Final. Cullen, already having achieved consideration times for the European U23 Championships and World University Games completed the backstroke double adding the 100m gold she won on Sunday. Cullen touched in 2:14.67 ahead of National Centre Ulster’s Maria Godden (2:17.08) and Banbridge’s Annabelle Wilkinson (2:18.39). Commemorative gold went to Germany’s Gabriela Georgieva in 2:13.07.

Having set a new Irish Senior Record of 1:56.61 and securing a consideration time for the World Aquatics Championships in the 200m Backstroke Semi-Final, National Centre Limerick’s John Shortt withdrew from the Final as he sits his Leaving Certificate oral on Wednesday morning. In his absence, Swim Belfast’s Brandon Biss won his first National Title in 2:01.16, also securing a consideration time for the European U23 Championships. Silver went to New Ross’ Emmet Cousins in 2:04.80 and bronze to Bangor’s Brydan Byrne in 2:04.81.

Alana Burns-Atkin claimed her second gold medal of the week in the 100m Butterfly Final. The National Centre Ulster swimmer swam a personal best 1:00.70 to add to the 200m Butterfly Title she won on Tuesday night. Silver went to National Centre Limerick’s Lucy O’Brien in 1:02.49 with New Ross’ Eva Bayley completing the podium in 1:03.89.

National Centre Ulster’s Adam Colgan won his first national title topping the podium in the open 200m Individual Medley in 2:06.52. Commemorative silver went to Germany’s Tobias Van Aggelen who got the touch in 2:07.50 just ahead of Irish silver medallist Tom Wilkinson of Banbridge in 2:08.08. Bronze went to Templeogue’s Baltazar Allende in 2:10.93.

Already under consideration for the European U23 Championships, Eoin Corby secured a consideration time in the 200m Breaststroke Semi-Final for the World University Games. The National Centre Limerick swimmer is top seed for Wednesday’s Final after a semi-final swim of 2:12.30 ahead of National Centre Ulster’s Lachey Reed (2:18.71) and Bangor’s Adam Bradley (2:18.99).

In the Female 50m Freestyle Semi-Finals, Larne’s Danielle Hill was the only swimmer under 26 seconds touching in 25.22. In joint second overall National Centre Dublin’s Rosalie Phelan and Ards’ Grace Davison clocked 26.13, Davison securing her third consideration time for the European Junior Championships.

National Centre Limerick’s Jack Cassin will be the fastest Irish swimmer in Wednesday’s 200m Butterfly Final. Cassin, who clocked 2:01.15 is the reigning Irish Champion in the event and a win in Wednesday’s Final would see him claim three titles in a row in the event.

The final heats session of the Irish Open Championships on Wednesday morning will feature female and open races in the 400m Individual Medley, 50, Backstroke, 50m Breaststroke and 50m Butterfly. Last week it was announced that the three 50m events would be added to the programme for the 2028 LA Olympic Games.