Ireland’s Ellie McCartney and John Shortt have secured semi-final places in their main events, the 200m Breaststroke and 200m Backstroke respectively, as the World Aquatics Championships continued on Thursday morning. The duo will join Ellen Walshe, who swims the 200m Butterfly Final, in action during the Finals session on day five of racing in Singapore.
In the 200m Breaststroke, a strong showing from McCartney saw her third in her heat in 2:25.22, her fifth fastest swim all time and second fastest morning swim. The result saw McCartney, who has a best time of 2:24.02 from the Irish Trials in April, progress to the semi-final in eighth overall.
McCartney’s teammate in Limerick, John Shortt, was also in excellent form on Thursday, with the 18-year-old swimming his second-best time ever in the 200m Backstroke clocking 1:56.98, just outside his Irish record 1:56.61.
The time saw the Galway man fourth in his heat and fourteenth overall to secure his place in the semi-final at his second consecutive World Championships.
In the Men’s 200m Breaststroke Eoin Corby had a top twenty finish clocking 2:11.84, the National Centre Limerick swimmer was just. 5 outside the semi-final places.
In the 100m Freestyle Danielle Hill touched in 56.59 seconds. The Larne swimmer returns to the blocks on Friday for the 50m Freestyle, an event she holds the Irish record in, in 24.68.
While Mona McSharry did not swim the 200m Breaststroke on Thursday morning, she is still entered to swim the 50m Breaststroke on Saturday.
Ellie McCartney is through to the 200m Breaststroke Final, while Ellen Walshe was eighth in her second final, on the fifth day of racing at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
McCartney had the swim of her life as she stormed into the 200m Breaststroke Final, her first World Final on her debut World Championships (50m).
The National Centre Limerick swimmer came home in a lifetime best 2:23.79 for third place in her heat and progresses as the sixth seed for Friday’s 13.08 (IRL) Final.
The 20-year-old, who started the year with a best time of 2:26.76, knocked .25 of a second off her best time of 2:24.04 from the European U23 Championships in Slovakia in June, where she won a silver medal, and was over a second faster than her heat swim of 2:25.22.
A delighted McCartney spoke after the race, “I’m ecstatic. This is what we train for, we train to perform in the heats, make it through the semis and progress through the rounds. And I think that’s really been a strength this year that I’ve been able to progress through each of the rounds. So, to make it to a World Championship Final in my first Worlds, it’s really exciting. I think here it’s just been so unpredictable, you get top two, top three in a semi-final and you’re not guaranteed a final, so it’s important that you just put your best foot down and whether or not I made the final, I would be able to walk away satisfied just because, I put my best foot forward and PB’d, I know I’ve left everything in the pool.”
Neutral athlete Evgenlia Chikunova will be the top seed for the Final in 2:20.65.
Ellen Walshe has finished eighth in Thursday’s 200m Butterfly Final, her second final of the week, following an eighth place in the 200m Individual Medley on Monday. The Templeogue swimmer clocked her second fastest time ever in the event in 2:08.34, just outside of the 2:07.48 Irish Record that she swam in Wednesday night’s semi-final.
Speaking after the race Walshe said, “I think even if I was to go back and think I’d be in that final, I would have been like, absolutely not, but I guess expectations build as you are a competitor, but yeah, it’s just a poor performance tonight.”
Looking ahead to her final and main event of the Championships on Sunday, the 400m Individual Medley, where Walshe was a finalist in Paris, she added “I think the expectation now is just rest and recovery. I think I’ve raced six races that I probably didn’t think I’d be in, so, I think the important thing now is just to recover and wait to see what happens on Sunday. It’s a big heat ahead, I think going in heat two, and it’s quite stacked, so it’ll be interesting to see how it goes.”
Canada’s Summer McIntosh won the Final of the Women’s 200m Butterfly in 2:01.99, the second fastest swim ever in the event.
In the 200m Backstroke Semi-Final, John Shortt swam his third fastest ever time clocking 1:57.30, just outside the 1:56.98 from the heats, to place fifteenth overall.
The 18-year-old spoke after the race, “Just wasn’t as fast as I would have liked it, but you know what? It’s been a really long summer already, so to be going my third best time or whatever it is, I really cannot be too angry at myself for that.”
Shortt is back in action on Friday with Evan Bailey, Cormac Rynn and Jack Cassin in the 4x200m Freestyle Relay, the quartet are all members at National Centre Limerick “I’m really proud to be a part of that team, and to be in that environment with them every day is unbelievable and they’ve all swam so well this week and you know they’ll show it again tomorrow and Cormac, his World Champs debut, I’m super excited because like we used to race together in small Connacht galas and stuff like that, so for us to be here, at Worlds together is very, very special.”
As well at the relay, Cassin will also be in action in the 100m Butterfly on Friday, while Tom Fannon, Paris Olympic Semi-Finalist, makes his long-awaited Singapore debut in the 50m Freestyle.
| Women 100m Freestyle | Danielle Hill | 56.59 (37th) | |
| Men 200m Backstroke | John Shortt | 1:56.98 (14th) | SF 1:57.30 (15th) |
| Women 200m Breaststroke | Ellie McCartney | 2:25.22 (8th) | SF 2:23.79 (6th) |
| Men 200m Breaststroke | Eoin Corby | 2:11.84 (20th) | |
| Men 3M Springboard | Jake Passmore | 360.60 (27th) | |
| Women 200m Butterfly | Ellen Walshe | SF 2:07.48 (4th) | F 2:08.34 (8th) |
