News

With less than four weeks to the Irish Open Swimming Championships (12^th – 16^th April) Irish swimmers had a successful weekend of preparation at the Edinburgh International Meet, competing against some of Britain’s best.

There were wins for Daniel Wiffen, Ellen Walshe and John Shortt, with a slew of others making the podium, A Finals and swimming personal bests.

Daniel Wiffen took the first gold of the weekend, with a comfortable win in the 1500m Freestyle final in 15:06.66, he was followed home for silver by brother Nathan in 15:32.22. Daniel went on to win the 800m Freestyle Final on Saturday, the only swimmer under 8 minutes, the Olympic Champion touched in 7:56.90 with Nathan taking bronze in 8:04.86. Daniel’s final medal came in the form of silver in the 400m Freestyle Final in 3:49.77. Nathan Wiffen also contested the Final placing eighth in 4:02.52.

It was a super Saturday for Ellen Walshe as she doubled up on gold medals in the 100m Butterfly and 400m Individual Medley. Walshe clocked 58.26 in the Butterfly event, followed by 4:41.14 in the individual medley. The Templeogue swimmer went on to win an impressive silver in the 200m Individual Medley on Sunday, her time of 2:11.19, just off her Irish Record of 2:10.92.

John Shortt impressed in the 200m Backstroke to top the podium in 1:58.24, one of only two swimmers under the two-minute mark. The National Centre Limerick swimmer also won 100m Backstroke bronze in 54.74, just .04 off his best time of 54.70.

Paris 2024 semi-finalist Tom Fannon won silver in the 50m Freestyle in 22.05, Olympic silver medallist Ben Proud was the gold medal winner in 21.73.

National Centre Limerick’s Ellie McCartney took the final medal of the weekend for Ireland with a bronze in the 200m Breaststroke in 2:26.68, Shark’s Niamh Connery was seventh in the same Final in 2:31.51. McCartney was also fourth in the 100m Breaststroke in 1:08.10 and was joined in the A Final by National Centre Dublin’s Niamh Coyne who was eighth in 1:10.68.

Additional ‘A’ Finalists included:

• Grace Davison was fourth in the 200m Individual Medley in 2:17.36.
• Evan Bailey was fifth in the 200m Freestyle in 1:49.04.
• Eoin Corby was fourth in the 200m Breaststroke in 2:13.86 and fifth in the 50m Breaststroke in 28.40.
• Jack Cassin was fourth in the 200m Butterfly Final in 1:59.57.

Full results are available HERE.

The Irish Open Swimming Championships will take place in Dublin from the 12th to 16th April.