A busy morning of action in Slovakia saw last night’s newly crowned European U23 Champion Ellie McCartney progress to another final along with Jack Cassin, Eoin Corby and Cormac Rynn. Meanwhile in Rome, Ellen Walshe and Mona McSharry will have second swims following their morning performances.
Newly minted 200m IM Champion McCartney was back in the pool on Friday morning for the heats of the 100m Breaststroke where she clocked 1:08.70 to advance to this evening’s 5.13pm Final in fifth place overall. The National Centre Limerick (NCL) swimmer has a personal best of 1:06.97 from the Irish Open in April this year.
Jack Cassin, another National Centre Limerick swimmer, had the swim of his life in the 200m Butterfly heats. The 21-year-old from Cork touched in 1:57.69 to place second in his heat and second overall, knocking over a second off his previous best of 1:58.71.
The impressive swims continued from the John Szaranek trained NCL swimmers as Eoin Corby won his 200m Breaststroke heat in style, turning at the last 50m in third place to touch first in 2:12.77. The Limerick man, who has a personal best of 2:10.50 from 2021, will be the third seed in Friday evening’s final.
19-year-old Cormac Rynn became the fourth National Centre Limerick swimmer to secure a final place. Swimming just outside his best of 3:53.70 in the 400m Freestyle touching in 3:54.10, securing the eighth and final place.
In Rome, Ellen Walshe cruised into the 400m Individual Medley Final, placing fourth in her heat and sixth overall in 3:50.32. In the 50m Breaststroke Heats, Mona McSharry, silver medallist in the 100m Breaststroke on Thursday, was ninth in 31.20 and will compete in the B Final.
Also, in action in Slovakia, Maria Godden just missed the 100m Backstroke Final, touching ninth overall in 1:02.57, Lottie Cullen swimming the same event clocked 1:02.86. 200m Freestyle Finalist Evan Bailey was back in the pool for the 50m Freestyle where just one hundredth of a second separated him and Ireland team-mate Oisin Tebite in 23.18 and 23.17 respectively. Brandon Biss rounded out the morning for Ireland in the 50m Backstroke clocking 27.17.
In a spectacular showing for Irish swimmers on Friday night, a gold, silver and bronze were won in Slovakia and Rome. Ellie McCartney added to 200m IM Gold at the European U23 Championships with bronze in the 100m Breaststroke, Eoin Corby won his first international medal with Silver in the 200m Breaststroke, while Ellen Walshe claimed gold in the 400m Individual Medley. at the Sette Colli International.
National Centre Limerick’s Eoin Corby becomes Ireland’s fifth ever European U23 medallist joining Mona McSharry, Ellen Walshe, Daniel Wiffen and McCartney on the list.
Corby was impressive in his execution of the race going from seventh after 50m, to sixth after 100m, he moved to third after 150m and closed out to claim silver in 2:10.50. The time a significant one for the 23-year-old who was exactly on his personal best set back in 2021. Gold in the race went to Austria’s Luka Mladenovic in 2:10.08 with Ukraine’s Maksym Ovchinnikiv taking bronze in 2:10.77.
Speaking after the race Corby said, “Obviously, I’m delighted with that race, I knew after this morning I had a bit more in me, I’d a quick finish and I just kind of tried to build on that this evening. I know a lot of the guys in the race, I know how they race, they know how I race, so just about playing to your advantages and your strengths putting the race together this evening, so I’m very very happy with it.”
The Limerick man returns to the pool on Saturday morning for the 100m Breaststroke.
U23 European Champion in the 200m Individual Medley Ellie McCartney added a bronze medal in this evening’s 100m Breaststroke Final. The 20-year-old, seeded fifth from the heats, took over a second off this mornings’ time of 1:08.70 to finish in 1:07.58 for her second medal in as many days. Estonia’s Enelia Jefimova won the race in 1:06.30 while silver went to Lithuania’s Kotryna Teterevkova in 1:07.50.
The National Centre Limerick swimmer spoke after the race, saying “I’m quite happy with that swim, it’s nice to get my hands on the wall again and get another medal, the time was just a bit off my pb but that’s understandable when I’m not fully rested for this. It was key to control my emotions, especially after last night and then control it again tonight ahead of the 200m Breaststroke tomorrow.”
McCartney returns to the pool on Saturday for the heats of the 200m Breaststroke.
In Rome, Ellen Walshe was a clear winner of the 400m Individual Medley Final touching in 4:37.80, over three seconds ahead of her closest competitor, Italy’s Anna Pirovana (4:41.09).
In the 50m Breaststroke B Final Mona McSharry took the top spot in 30.89.
Walshe and McSharry will both be back in action on Saturday, Walshe doubles up with the 200m Butterfly and 200m Individual Medley, while McSharry is entered in the 200m Breaststroke.
Back in Slovakia, National Centre Limerick’s Jack Cassin was agonisingly close to a medal in the 200m Butterfly. The Cork man swam a personal best of 1:57.34, his second PB of the day, to finish just outside the medals in fourth place, only one tenth of a second separating him from the bronze medallist Apostolos Siskos of Greece in 1:57.23.
The swim concludes Cassin’s Championships with focus now turning to the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore in July.
In the 400m Freestyle Final, Cormac Rynn swam a personal best of 3:53.57 to finish eighth overall. 19-year-old Rynn, whose previous best was 3:53.70 in the event, is swimming his first year as a senior and will also be in action later this month at the World Aquatics Championships.
The Carrick on Shannon native will be back in the pool on Saturday for the heats of the 100m Freestyle.
Also, in action on Saturday morning in Slovakia for the final day of competition, Brandon Biss competes in the 100m Backstroke, Evan Bailey and Oisin Tebite join Rynn in the 100m Freestyle and Lottie Cullen and Maria Godden swim the 200m Backstroke.
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