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As lightning caused havoc in Belgrade, Danielle Hill thundered home to a sensational silver medal on the penultimate night of racing in the 2024 European Aquatic Championships.
Hill showed no signs of being phased in stormy conditions to fire home in 1:00.19 to secure silver in the 100m Backstroke. The Larne swimmer backed up her golden performance from Thursday to take her second senior medal of her career. Hill was pipped to the gold in a titanic battle with Poland’s Adela Piskorska by just 0.40 of a second.
Speaking in the mixed zone, Hill said, “It’s special after what has been a crazy night, we were just happy to get in the water and I knew tonight was going to be who wanted it more and put their hand on the wall first. Credit to Adela that she got her hand on the wall; I think it’s a massive personal best for her. Listen, it wasn’t to be tonight, but I can’t be disappointed with the silver medal.
Speaking on the weather conditions, Hill added, “I’ve had to deal with that before out in the gold coast at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, it was the 100 Backstroke semi-final. It was a bit nervy at times, but I got in the water and got the job done.”
In the same race, 19-year-old Lottie Cullen finished fifth in Europe with a time of 1:01.03, her first individual final at a senior international event. The National Centre (Ulster) swimmer closed out her magnificent week with one final (100 Back) and two semi-finals (200 Back, 50 Back).
As the lighting and rain worsened, competition paused which meant Irish pair Shane Ryan and Calum Bain had to wait to stand back on the blocks for the 50m Freestyle Semi-Final. Ryan, who advanced from the heat with a newly minted senior record, took to the centre lane after coming out of the heat swim fastest (21.82). Ryan was in and out of the pool in 21.96 seconds to secure a final place in fourth.
Calum Bain stood on the blocks beside his National Centre (Dublin) teammate in lane three for tonight’s 50m Freestyle Semi-Final, Bain went 22.12 to place ninth, agonizingly close to making the final with 22.10 last to make it through.
Ellie McCartney closed out her excellent week with a European eighth in the 200m Medley Final, clocking 2:14.09 to set a new personal best.
Conor Ferguson continued to perform impressively as he progressed into the 100m Backstroke final with a sixth-place finish, touching the wall in 54.12. However, the Loughborough swimmer will not context the final as he travels home on Sunday.
The Men’s 1500 Freestyle fell victim to the weather conditions which meant Nathan Wiffen would have to wait one more day to race. The final was set to get underway with all swimmers preparing to stand on the blocks only to be asked to stand down due to worsening conditions and the higher risk factor of the swimmers being in the pool for the longer distance event. The final will now take place tomorrow evening at 5:10pm.
The final day of racing at the 2024 European Aquatic Championships will see Nathan Wiffen racing in the postponed 1500m Freestyle Final and 400m Freestyle heat, Cormac Rynn will also compete in the latter, while Shane Ryan swims the 50m Freestyle Final.
Ellen Walshe claimed an outstanding gold medal in a new Irish Record in the 400m Individual Medley as she continued her preparations for Paris in Rome. Walshe, competing against World and Olympic medallists in the A Final, had set the standard at 4:37.94 just three weeks ago at the Irish Open and Olympic Trials. On Saturday, the Templeogue swimmer powered home in 4:37.18 having led throughout the race.
Speaking after the race Walshe said, “I’m delighted with that swim, it’s a great race before going into Paris, it gives me a lot of confidence. I think coming in tonight I was against the best in the world, so I knew I was going to have to be pretty quick through the front end. The backstroke is my weakest stroke, so I was just trying to stay on the lane line with the sun in my eyes.’ She added ‘I’m really surprised with that time. I knew going out in front of the field I was going to put myself in a difficult position to finish it, I think I just used my skills on the back end, my underwaters and I was able to get in front of the field, so yeah I’m delighted with it.”
Daniel Wiffen, who is just off a training camp and in the midst of heavy training as he prepares for Paris was third in the 800m Freestyle in 7:46.83.
Both Walshe and Wiffen return to the pool on Sunday for the final day of racing in Rome. Walshe will compete in the 200m Individual Medley heats while Wiffen swims the 1500m Freestyle with the fastest heat going in the evening session. Max McCusker, who made the 100m Butterfly A Final on Friday, swims the 50m Butterly, Erin Riordan will be in the 50m Freestyle Heats and Victoria Catterson competes in the 200m Backstroke.
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