The penultimate morning of racing was action-packed for Ireland’s swimmers at the 2025 European Aquatics Junior Championships in Samorin, Slovakia. The morning included a return to racing for newly minted bronze medalist John Shortt and tonight’s 100m Freestyle Finalist Grace Davison, who both advanced through the rounds in the 100m Backstroke and 200m Individual Medley, respectively. While an Ireland Men’s team set a new Irish Junior Record in the 4x200m Freestyle Relay.
John Shortt, who is a 2024 European Junior silver medalist in the 100m Backstroke, advanced through the heat as second fastest qualifier with a time of 55.44 and will return to the pool this evening for the semi-final.
Straight off the back of an exciting Friday night, Grace Davison was back in the pool, featuring in the women’s 200m Individual Medley. The Ards swimmer came through the heat in a time of 2:18.47 to move through the round in thirteenth position. The Paris Olympian will feature tonight in both the 100m Freestyle Final, the reigning bronze medalist from 2024, and the 200m IM semi-final.
An exciting Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay, consisting of John Shortt, Denis O’Brien, Luca Power, and Sean Donnellan, combined for a new Irish Junior Record of 7:33.36. The quartet broke the 2018 record of 7:33.73 set at the European Junior Championships and held by Robbie Powell, Cadan McCarthy, Finn McGeever, and Jack McMillan. Both McGeever and McMillan went on to represent Ireland at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games in that same event.
Lucy O’Brien put on the green jacket on two occasions this morning, firstly for the women’s 50m Butterfly, clocking 28.05, just outside of her personal best (28:00). There was a quick turnaround for the National Centre (Limerick) swimmer, heading back out for the 200m IM, finishing in a time of 2:25.47
Adam Bradley suited up once again this morning, competing in the men’s 100m Breaststroke, stopping the clock in 1:03.54. In the women’s event, Ireland was represented by two promising swimmers, Ava Jones and Niamh Connery, both competing at the European Juniors for the second consecutive year. Jones, who clocked 1:11.66, was just over half of a second off her personal best, while Connery closed out her campaign with a time of 1:11:33.
The men’s 100m Freestyle was the first event on a busy morning for Team Ireland as Matthew Hamilton and Reuben Alty headed to the blocks. Hamilton, who featured in two European semi-finals this week, came through the race in 51.76. While Alty, who was making his international debut this week, clocked 52.96, both swimmers closed out their individual campaigns for the week.
Also competing this morning was Adeline Cloutier, who finished out a busy week in the pool, swimming a time of 1:05.64 in the women’s 100m Backstroke. In the 50m Butterfly, Matthew Hamilton, swimming in his second event of the morning, and Thomas Bugler were both on the blocks, Hamilton clocking 24.97, while Sundays Well man Bugler closed out his international debut in 25.56.
Tonight, will see both Grace Davison (100m Freestyle Final, 200 IM Semi-Final) and John Shortt (100m Backstroke Semi-Final) head to the blocks once again.
Grace Davison struck bronze in the 100m Freestyle in a new Irish Record and advanced to the 200m Individual Medley Final, while John Shortt impressed once again to qualify for his third final of the week in the 100m Backstroke, on the penultimate night of racing at the 2025 European Aquatics Junior Championships.
The Irish crowd did not have long to wait to make some noise as Grace Davison headed to the blocks for the 100m Freestyle Final at the beginning of the session in Slovakia. Davison sat in fifth place turning into the back 50 metres, and it was from there the Ards woman showed what she is made of and battled through the water in steely fashion to touch the wall in 54.80, pipping GB swimmer Theodora Taylor by .04 of a second to reclaim the European Junior bronze medal she won in Vilnius, Lithuania last year.
At just 17 years old, the time sees Davison stamp her name into the Irish Senior Record books for the first time individually, beating Danielle Hill’s 2022 time of 54.87.
Speaking in the mixed zone, an ecstatic Davison said, “I’m over the moon, the last thing Curtis (coach) said to me before going into the call room was if you knew you’d be walking in here a couple of months ago, you’d be happy. I’ve had a hard year in terms of sickness and not enjoying racing, I knew I hadn’t the training behind me to go into trials (Irish Open) and swim well because of it (sickness). Those who know me know I like to throw in a good performance, so that was hard. It’s been an uphill battle from there but I’m so glad I didn’t give up; I now have a medal and I’m in another final (200 IM).
“I’m so pleased, I didn’t know what it was (Irish Senior Record time) until last night after the final, anything could happen tonight, it wasn’t about the time, it was getting the hand on the wall. That’s what it was about tonight, it wasn’t about the time at all. I’m 17 and to have an Irish Senior Record, I’m really proud of myself.”
The Paris Olympian on winning back-to-back bronze medals said, “This means a lot more to me than last year, this took a lot more hard work. Last year was a nice surprise with the bronze, this year I knew I could do it. The last two months I’ve had the best training block of my life and with the times I’ve been putting down in training, I knew I could go fast but it was about coming here and going fast, which is the hard part.”
It was a whirlwind hour for Davison, who had less than an hour to get ready for the 200m Individual Medley semi-final. Davison showed the characteristics of a true competitor as she came through the grueling event in 2:15.02, advancing to Sunday’s final as the third fastest qualifier.
Speaking on the race, Davison said, “I’m so excited, I gave it my all, my last 100 metres wasn’t picture perfect, but it wasn’t far off my personal best, that’s even exciting saying that; I know I can go faster.”
Davison has now also secured three qualification times for the World Aquatics Junior Championships in Bucharest next month, in the 100m Freestyle, 200m Freestyle and 200m Individual Medley.
John Shortt continued to impress in an Irish cap, making sure another European Junior Final was on the cards for the Galway man. Shortt takes the trip to centre stage on Sunday evening as the second fastest qualifier in the 100m Backstroke having won his semi-final in 54.97.
The 18-year-old, who is the 2024 silver medalist in this event, is just .71 of a second behind neutral athlete Georgii Iakovlev, setting up what is sure to be another thrilling encounter featuring the National Centre (Limerick) man.
Speaking after tonight’s semi-final, Shortt said, “I feel good, it’s exactly what my coach wanted me to do, I’m just really enjoying my racing now. The lads gave me a good race, which is exactly what you want. That was comfortable enough, so let’s try push it on again tomorrow. It’s all about getting lots of rest and recovery, I know I’m going to have to be out with those boys, but I know I can come back as good, if not better than them. I’ll give it a go and see what happens.”
On Sunday, the last day of racing at the 2025 European Junior Championships, Ireland will have at least six individual swimmers and two relay teams in action.
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