Mona McSharry (Breaststroke), Jack Kelly (Breaststroke) and John Shortt (Backstroke) remain on course for a clean sweep of titles, while Ellen Walshe targets a fourth gold following the day four heats of the Irish Open Swimming Championships and Commonwealth Games Trials in Bangor.
McSharry, who set a new Irish and Championship Record of 2:22.22 in Friday’s 200m Breaststroke, continued her strong form in the 100m Breaststroke heats, clocking 1:06.33. The swim ranks her as the fourth‑fastest performer in the world this year and was comfortably inside the European Aquatics Championships consideration standard. Ellie McCartney won the penultimate heat in 1:08.80 to progress second overall, while University of Limerick’s Eimear Doyle topped heat three in 1:10.81.
Terenure’s Jack Kelly also kept his bid for a breaststroke triple on track as he was the only swimmer to dip under the one‑minute mark in the 100m Breaststroke. Kelly, already 50m and 200m Breaststroke national champion this week, matched Darragh Greene’s 2024 Championship Record of 59.91 to win his heat and comfortably better the European Championships consideration time of 1:00.65. Greene (Longford) posted the second‑fastest time after winning heat three in 1:01.17, while Bangor’s Adam Bradley claimed heat four and progressed third fastest in 1:01.60, also inside the U20 European Championships consideration standard.
John Shortt leads the qualifiers in the Open 200m Backstroke. The 2025 World Junior and European (SC) Champion, who set a new Irish Record of 1:56.07 in the event at the Giant Open in Paris three weeks ago, cruised to the top spot in 2:00.63. The 19-year-old has now achieved consideration times for all three Backstroke events for the European Championships. Shortt’s National Centre Limerick team-mates Emmet Cousins (2:03.54) and Neddie Irwin (2:05.71) won their heats to progress in second and third.
Grace Davison, already crowned 100m and 200m Freestyle champion this week, will head into this evening’s 200m Backstroke Final as top seed. The 18‑year‑old clocked 2:14.88 to lead the qualifiers, a swim that also dipped under the European Championships consideration time (U20). Davison now holds qualifying times for the European Championships in the 100m and 200m Freestyle as well as the 100m and 200m Backstroke.
National Centre Ulster’s Lottie Cullen (2:16.97) and Trojan’s Ashling McCarthy (2:18.32), who finished first and second in the opening heat, completed the top three qualifiers.
Paris Olympian Victoria Catterson posted the fastest time of the morning as she won heat two of the Female 400m Freestyle. The National Centre Ulster swimmer clocked 4:22.37 to take top seed ahead of Sundays Wells Clare Custer (4:23.34), winner of the 800m Freestyle, and Templeogue’s Ellen Walshe (4:23.72). Already a silver medallist in the 200m Freestyle and bronze medallist in the 100m Freestyle, Catterson will be chasing her first national title of the week. Walshe, meanwhile, will be aiming for a fourth gold, having already claimed national titles in the 100m and 200m Butterfly and the 400m Individual Medley.
Daniel Wiffen and Nathan Wiffen won their heats of the 400m Freestyle and will be the top seeds for the final later today. Daniel was under the consideration time for the European Championships and Commonwealth Games as he clocked 3:50.62. Nathan won his heat in 3:53.93. Second to Daniel in the final heat and third overall in 3:56.70, National Centre Limerick’s Denis O’Brien secured a consideration time (U20) for the European Championships.
Stroke clean sweeps for John Shortt, Jack Kelly and Mona McSharry, a fourth national title for Ellen Walshe and another Irish Record from Shortt highlighted the penultimate night of racing at the Irish Open Championships and Commonwealth Games Trials in Bangor on Saturday.
Shortt continued his outstanding form as he set new Irish and Championship Records in the 200m Backstroke, completing a clean sweep of the backstroke titles this week. Already the record-holder in the 100m Backstroke with his 53.17 swim from earlier in the week, Shortt went under 1:56 for the first time in his career, stopping the clock at 1:55.70 – a performance that ranks him third in the world this year. The 19-year-old improved on his previous lifetime best of 1:56.07, set at the Giant Open in Paris three weeks ago, and bettered his own Championship Record of 1:56.61 from the 2025 Irish Open.
A delighted Shortt said, “Brilliant, I think the last two weeks have been really solid in terms of every time I’ve gotten in the water this season I’ve improved, so I think it’s been a really solid last three days and I’m excited to see where the Summer goes.”
It was a full podium of National Centre Limerick swimmers for the 200m Backstroke as Shortt’s team-mates Neddie Irwin and Emmet Cousins finished second and third, just one hundredth of a second separating them in 2:03.35 and 2:03.36 respectively.
Jack Kelly completed a hat-trick of Breaststroke titles as he claimed his third national win of the week in the 100m Breaststroke, setting his second Championship Record in the process. Kelly touched in 59.90, shaving one hundredth of a second off Darragh Greene’s 2024 Championship Record of 59.91, which he had equalled in the morning heats. The swim added to the 50m Breaststroke Championship Record he set on Thursday. Greene finished second in the final in 1:00.60, with Bangor’s Adam Bradley taking third in 1:00.81, as all three swimmers went under the European Championships consideration standard. 18-year-old Bradley set a new Irish Junior Record in the final, breaking Eoin Corby’s 2019 standard of 1:01.05.
Olympic bronze medallist Mona McSharry completed her Breaststroke clean sweep with victory in her favoured 100m Breaststroke. Racing for Marlins SC, McSharry clocked 1:06.27, the third‑fastest time in the world this year. National Centre Limerick’s Ellie McCartney secured her second silver medal of the week in 1:07.60, with both swimmers going under the consideration standard for the European Aquatics Championships, and McCartney also inside the Commonwealth Games standard. University of Limerick’s Eimear Doyle completed the podium with bronze in 1:10.52.
Ellen Walshe was once again outstanding as she claimed her fourth national title of the week with victory in the 400m Freestyle. Already crowned champion in the 100m and 200m Butterfly and the 400m Individual Medley, Walshe showed her versatility with a personal best of 4:12.54, a time inside the consideration standard for the European Aquatics Championships. Loughborough’s Fleur Lewis finished second to take commemorative silver in 4:18.93, while National Centre Ulster’s Victoria Catterson secured national silver in 4:19.81. Sundays Wells’ Clare Custer, the 800m Freestyle champion, completed the podium with bronze in 4:21.40.
The Female 200m Backstroke Final proved a tight contest, with Lottie Cullen (National Centre Ulster), Grace Davison (Ards) and Maria Godden (National Centre Limerick) locked in a battle for the medals. Cullen, already crowned 100m Backstroke Champion, produced a strong finish to take gold in 2:12.23, just 0.14 seconds clear of 100m and 200m Freestyle Champion Davison, who touched in 2:12.37. Both swimmers recorded times inside the consideration standards for the European Championships and the Commonwealth Games. Godden secured the bronze medal in 2:14.94, while Aer Lingus’ Julia Dziedzic placed sixth in 2:19.00, adding another European Aquatics Junior Championships consideration time to her tally.
Olympic Champion Daniel Wiffen claimed his second national title of the week with victory in the Open 400m Freestyle, adding to 800m Freestyle gold from the opening night of racing. Wiffen controlled the race from the outset, touching home in 3:49.35, a time inside the consideration standards for both the European Championships and the Commonwealth Games. Behind him, Larne’s Nathan Wiffen and National Centre Limerick’s Cormac Rynn were inseparable as they charged to the wall together, sharing the silver medal in 3:54.12.
