Ellen Walshe was ninth and just outside the 400m Individual Medley Final, while Ireland’s men competed in the 4x100m Medley Relay on the final day of racing at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. The Ireland team closed out the Championships with ten semi-final or equivalent top sixteen places, four finals and three Irish Records.
Walshe, already a two-time finalist in Singapore in the 200m Individual Medley and 200m Butterfly, was agonisingly close to a third Final, finishing fifth in her heat in her fastest ever morning swim in 4:38.72. Great Britain’s Freya Colbert secured the final place in 4:38.31, just four tenths of a second ahead of Walshe.
The Templeogue swimmer spoke after the race, “I probably didn’t expect it to be so fast. and I think even when I touched the wall, I was surprised at my time, never mind coming in fifth, but, I’ll definitely take it on day eight, like I’ve had many swims in my system, so I think I said to the team this morning if I could even be 4:41 I’d be delighted, so I think to see a 4:38 on the board, I was pretty surprised.
“I’m delighted, I’ve had a quite successful worlds, I’ve made two finals, and I think to come ninth today, like, I’ll take it. There’s definitely loads of learnings to make as well.”
A team of John Shortt, Eoin Corby, Jack Cassin and Evan Bailey represented Ireland on the senior international team for the first time. The quartet, who all train together at National Centre Limerick, combined for a time of 3:37.56.
Bailey, who anchored the relay with a freestyle split of 49.02 said, “It’s really nice to see like a refresh on the team, there are four new guys coming up and it’s only up from here with the relay. Then as well, like all of us, if it’s our main focus for the 4×100 Medley in the future, we can definitely go a lot faster and work on that in the future. But today was just good craic to get in. It’s a really enjoyable race and I think you kind of need that just to up the spirit and get in with the lads and enjoy the race so yeah, honestly, I’ve always wanted to anchor a relay for Ireland, so it was an amazing feeling and I’m really happy with it.”
Swim Ireland Team Leader John Szaranek reflected on the past eight days ‘As the World Aquatics Championships 2025 come to a close in Singapore, Team Ireland can be proud of their achievements across the eight days competition. Coming into the meet some of the athletes had to deal with injury, illness and disruption to their training. This did not deter the athletes who had an excellent holding camp in Malaysia, and they transferred that momentum into Singapore. Adversity was never far away, and illness was rife throughout the largest ever competitive field to assemble for a World Championships. The Irish athletes coped well with the circumstances and should be very proud of their performances across the meet.”
While most swimmers who competed in Singapore have now finished their season and will take a break ahead of the 2025/26 season, John Shortt, already a double European Junior Champion, still has one competition to go as he competes in the World Junior Swimming Championships in Otopeni, Romania from August 19th – 24th.
Next up, a team of over 40 Irish Masters swimmers will be in action at the World Masters Aquatics Championships in Singapore from August 7th – 14th while Ireland’s Para swimmers continue to train as they work towards the World Para Swimming Championships, also in Singapore from September 21st – 27th.
| Women 400m IM | Ellen Walshe | 4:38.72 (9th) |
| Men 4x100m Medley Relay | Ireland (John Shortt, Eoin Corby, Jack Cassin, Evan Bailey) | 3:37.56 (21st) |
