Ellen Walshe and Jack Cassin have qualified to the semi-finals of the 200m Butterfly. The pair will join Daniel Wiffen, who competes in the 800m Freestyle Final, in action on Saturday evening at the European Aquatics Championships (SC) in Lublin, Poland.
Walshe has a particularly busy night ahead as she competes in the 200m Individual Medley Final and just 30 minutes later, the semi-final of the 200m Butterfly.
The Templeogue swimmer came through this morning’s Butterfly heats comfortably in 2:10.63 to progress in fifth overall.
In the Men’s 200m Butterfly heats Jack Cassin clocked 1:54.71 to place fifth in his heat and advances thirteenth into the semi-final.
Adam Bradley, making his senior Ireland debut this week, set his first Irish Junior Record in the heats of the 50m Breaststroke. Bradley won his heat in 27.09 seconds, breaking Eoin Corby’s 2019 record of 27.29.
Speaking after the race Bradley said, “I’m really pleased with that, I’ve been eyeing that one for a while, so to get under it is nice this morning. I was pretty quick out in the 100 (breaststroke) earlier in the week, so I knew it was possible today, it was good to go and get after it.
“The international experience has helped me to be on my best in the morning, I’ve been closer to my personal bests here than I was in Slovakia at the European Juniors. It’s been really exciting, it motivates you to be at your best, you want to be part of this team, it’s been brilliant.”
Corby was also racing the heats of the 50m Breaststroke and swam a lifetime best 26.81, going under 27 seconds for the first time he finished second in his heat.
200m Backstroke European Champion (25m) John Shortt was the first Irish swimmer in action on Saturday morning. The National Centre Limerick swimmer swam a personal best of 23.88 in the 50m Backstroke placing second in his heat and was just four hundredths of a second outside Conor Ferguson’s Irish Junior Record of 23.84.
Evan Bailey was the best of a trio of Irish swimmers in the 50m Freestyle heats who swam best times. The 200m Freestyle bronze medallist at this Championships swam 22.11, Matthew Hamilton clocked 22.30 while Cormac Rynn touched in 23.02.
In the Women’s 50m Freestyle heats National Centre Ulster’s Rosalie Phelan swam under 25 seconds for the first time in 24.97, taking .28 of a second off her best time of 25.25 from the World Aquatics World Cup in October.
In the USA overnight, Mona McSharry won her second medal at the Toyota US Open (50m) claiming joint silver with Canada’s Alexanne LePage in the 100m Breaststroke in 1:06.81. USA’s Alex Walshe won gold in 1:06.55. McSharry races the 200m Breaststroke heats on Saturday.
It was a super Saturday for Irish swimmers at the European Aquatics Championships (25m) in Poland tonight as Ellen Walshe and Daniel Wiffen brought Ireland’s medal haul to six including two gold from Wiffen (1500m Freestyle) and John Shortt (200m Backstroke), a silver from Walshe (200m IM) and three bronze from Daniel Wiffen (400m Freestyle, 800m Freestyle) and Evan Bailey (200m Freestyle).
Walshe pulled off an incredible double as she claimed silver in the 200m Individual Medley and just thirty minutes later qualified for the final of the 200m Butterfly.
The Templeogue swimmer held incredible nerve throughout the medley race, she was sixth after the butterfly leg and turned eighth after the backstroke, she moved to third during the breaststroke and it was only at the final turn she powered through to second in 2:04.78, beaten only by a European Record from the Netherlands Marrit Steenbergen in 2:01.83.
Walshe was back in the pool less than half an hour later for the 200m Butterfly Semi-Final finishing second, in the second of the races, to secure automatic qualification for Sunday’s Final in 2:05.60. She advances fourth overall.
A delighted Walshe spoke after her races, “I’m delighted to take the medal tonight; I think it shows all the stuff I put in is paying off. I had a really successful World Cup, and I just tried to bring in some of the confidence from that and race really hard tonight; I’m delighted with the swims.
“I had a mission I wanted to complete, which is get into a nice lane for tomorrow and the mission wasn’t finished after the medal. It continues into tomorrow. You do have to stay focussed even though you’re really excited on the inside. It’s staying calm and realising ‘I’ve got another race to go’ and then we can celebrate tonight and then again, bed early and up again tomorrow, so you have to stay on it.”
Sunday will be another difficult double for Walshe as she races the 400m Individual Medley heats in the morning and will potentially swim the 200m Butterfly and 400m Individual Medley Finals in the evening.
Walshe said “I haven’t really thought too much of it, I felt like tonight was kind of more nerve wracking, the 200 IM, it’s so stacked and it’s such a deep field that it can go any way, so I guess to get a medal tonight it’s amazing, it’s something I probably always dreamed of – to stand on the podium for the 200 IM, it’s an event I really like to do. Hopefully there might be one more (medal) to come tomorrow, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Daniel Wiffen closed out his European Championships with a bronze medal in the 800m Freestyle. Wiffen, who is the World Record holder in the event in 7:20.46, came home in 7:30.14.
Hungary’s Zalan Sarkany, who Wiffen beat in the final stages of the 1500m Freestyle Final on Thursday won gold in 7:26.84, while long term training partner of Wiffen Lucas Henveaux of Belgium won silver in 7:28.03.
Wiffen spoke after the race, “I do think that swim showed the training be honest, because I was on my arse on the start of that. But I was happy I was able to come through it at 400, but I had to kill myself to do it, so I’m very proud of myself and how I came back, but I’m not very happy with how I’ve lost that race.
“To be honest, I’m the World Record holder in this event, like they were six seconds over my best, but for me, my race was going by my race plan but as soon as I dived in, I knew I was going to be tired from the rest of the week. I’ve come through a lot for the past couple of weeks, so I’m happy with the bronze, I’m still on the podium, which is a massive bonus and I won the other day, so we can’t complain.’
Jack Cassin closed the evening for Ireland in the Men’s 200m Butterfly Semi-Final. The National Centre Limerick swimmer was over a second faster than his morning swim of 1:54.71, touching in 1:53.62 for fifth in his semi-final and twelfth overall.
Cassin said after the race, “I’m obviously a little bit disappointed. I would have loved to get a PB and hit that 1.52 marker, but I think there’s a lot to learn there, I still need to take some things from those big guys in that race, but I’m overall quite happy with the race.
“I know I’m still new to the international scene, so I’m very proud to come so far, and there’s obviously, as I said, there’s so much to work on, so much to do, I think John’s (Szaranek) a great coach, I’m going to speak to him now, see what we can do better for next time.”
Cassin will return to the pool on Sunday, the final day of racing in Lublin, with John Shortt, Eoin Corby, and Evan Bailey for the heats of the 4x50m Medley Relay.
At the US Open (50m) in Texas today, Mona McSharry clocked 2:27.47 in the 200m Breaststroke heats and enters tonight’s final as the second seed.
