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Gidey just misses out on half marathon medal in Belgium, records fall at Irish Open

Ellen Walshe stars as Wiffen brothers set for 800m showdown at 2025 Irish Open Swimming Championships.

IRELAND’S EFREM GIDEY just missed out on the podium at the inaugural European Running Championships in Belgium, finishing fourth in the half marathon.

The Clonliffe Harriers star was one second short of a medal following an epic sprint finish with Frances’s Valentin Gondouin, who took bronze in Leuven.

Gidey, 24, stormed through the first 5km in 13:54, just behind eventual champion Jimmy Gressier (France) and silver medallist Awet Nftalem Kibrab (Norway).

Gondouin began to reel the battling Gidey in with 5km to go, and the fight for bronze went right down to the wire. Gidey finished in a time of 1:01:55, just over a minute down on his national record.

Ann-Marie McGlynn was 26th in the women’s elite race in a time of 1:16:49, while the remainder of the Irish team race over 10km tomorrow.

Meanwhile, four records have fallen at the 2025 Irish Open Swimming Championships in Dublin, with Ellen Walshe, Evan Bailey and John Shortt among those starring.

Walshe clocked championship record times in the 200m individual medley (2:11.14) and 200m butterfly (2:08.66), solidifying qualification for the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore with the former.

ellen-walshe Ellen Walshe (file photo). Andrea Masin / INPHO Andrea Masin / INPHO / INPHO

Bailey topped the rankings in the 200m freestyle with a personal best and new championship record of 1:47.08, while Shortt set a new Irish junior mark of 54.25 in the 100m backstroke heats. It knocked 0.13 off Conor Ferguson’s previous record of 54.38 from 2018.

Brothers Nathan and Daniel Wiffen won their respective 800m heats: Nathan goes into tomorrow evening’s final as the top seed after his qualification time of 8:02.00, while Olympic champion Daniel clocked 8:29.49.

Plenty of consideration times for international events were secured across the board, with Clare Cusker (1500m Freestyle) and Danielle Hill (100m Backstroke) among others starting positively in the capital.

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