Ireland's Ellen Walshe in Poland. Andrea Masini/INPHO
in the water
Walshe storms into final with impressive win at European Short Course Championships
Earlier this evening, Ellie McCartney took fifth in the final of the Women’s 200m Breaststroke while John Shortt picked up his fifth record of the week.
IRELAND’S ELLEN WALSHE has stormed into the final of the Women’s 200m Individual Medley after a blistering victory in the first of the semi-finals at the European Aquatics Short Course Swimming Championships in Lublin, Poland.
Walshe was first to the wall in 2:06.63 and will progress to the final in third place overall across the two semi-finals behind Great Britain duo Freya Colbert (2:06.42) and Katie Shanahan (2:06.57).
Walshe was third after the butterfly and backstroke legs of the race, moving into second after the breaststroke and then surged to first over the last twenty-five metres of freestyle.
The Templeogue swimmer lowered her heat time of 2:09.21 to 2:06.63 to win her heat and secure automatic qualification for Saturday’s Final, where she will join Daniel Wiffen (800m Freestyle Final) in action.
“I was just looking for kind of the top two, just to kind of put myself in a nice position for tomorrow night, there’s a lot of kind of fast swimming to come in that event, so it will be a good fight tomorrow.
“I think I’m used to coming into a meet and like straight off with like a main event and that just wasn’t the case and it wasn’t the case on day two or day three, so like, I think just building in to day four and like we still had another two days to go, which are main days for me.
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“I’m looking forward to seeing what tomorrow morning (200m Butterfly) is as well, and tomorrow night will be a tough one with maybe the two of them together. So, yeah, we’ll just have fun and enjoy the meet.”
Earlier this evening, Ellie McCartney took fifth place in the final of the Women’s 200m Breaststroke.
𝗜𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗛 𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗜𝗢𝗥 𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗗
Another day, another swim, another Irish record for John Shortt 🕺
The Galway man lowers the 100m backstroke record to 50.10 📉
McCartney was in third for much of the race but was edged out of the medal positions as she clocked 2:19.90 to take fifth. The race went to video referral but there was no disqualification as Germany’s Anna Elendt was declared the winner after finishing in 2:18.16. Silver went to Great Britain’s Angharad Evans in 2:18.90 and Kotryna Teterevkova of Lithuania clinched the bronze medal in 2:19.30.
The 20-year-old had entered the final as the top seed in a best time of 2:18.81 and was disappointed not to have replicated that in the final.
“I’m very disappointed, I’m not going to lie, my semi-final time would have got me a medal there, I know I have more in me, so I’m really disappointed, I thought I was doing better than that.”
John Shortt broke the Irish record as he finished in seventh place in the final of the Men’s 100m Backstroke Final, which was his second final of the week. Shortt, who won gold in the Men’s 200m Backstroke this week, clocked 50.10 as he picked up his fifth national record of the week.
The National Centre Limerick swimmer had entered the final with an Irish record of 50.16 from the semi-final, and lowered that time again this evening.
Shortt has now set a world junior record, European junior record, championship record and five Irish senior and five Irish junior records across four days of racing.
“I’m pretty happy with that, you know, would have probably liked to have been under 50, but, you know, it’s been a massive kind of, well, I suppose it’s a massive week, so look, it can’t be perfect all the time and, you know, I’ll give that record another crack at our short course (Irish Championships 12 – 14 December) in a few days’ time, so, yeah, overall very, very happy though.’
“It’s been amazing. And I’ve loved every single minute of it. I think we have an incredible team out here, we really do, just all incredible individuals and, you know, as a team, I think we work pretty well together. So, look, massive week and still a good few more swims left to go, so, it’s been really good so far.”
Shortt will be back in the pool on Saturday for the heats of the 50m Backstroke.
Eoin Corby and Adam Bradley will also be in action as they enter the 50m Breaststroke heats. Rosalie Phelan competes in the Women’s 50m Freestyle Heats and Evan Bailey, Matthew Hamilton, Bradley, and Cormac Rynn in the men’s event, while Jack Cassin swims his main event, the 200m Butterfly.
European Aquatics Short Course Swimming Championships Day 5 Schedule – Saturday 6 December
Men 50m Backstroke – John Shortt
Men 50m Breaststroke – Eoin Corby, Adam Bradley
Women 50m Freestyle – Rosalie Phelan
Men 50m Freestyle – Evan Bailey, Matthew Hamilton, Adam Bradley, Cormac Rynn
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Walshe storms into final with impressive win at European Short Course Championships
LAST UPDATE | 5 Dec 2025
IRELAND’S ELLEN WALSHE has stormed into the final of the Women’s 200m Individual Medley after a blistering victory in the first of the semi-finals at the European Aquatics Short Course Swimming Championships in Lublin, Poland.
Walshe was first to the wall in 2:06.63 and will progress to the final in third place overall across the two semi-finals behind Great Britain duo Freya Colbert (2:06.42) and Katie Shanahan (2:06.57).
Walshe was third after the butterfly and backstroke legs of the race, moving into second after the breaststroke and then surged to first over the last twenty-five metres of freestyle.
The Templeogue swimmer lowered her heat time of 2:09.21 to 2:06.63 to win her heat and secure automatic qualification for Saturday’s Final, where she will join Daniel Wiffen (800m Freestyle Final) in action.
“I was just looking for kind of the top two, just to kind of put myself in a nice position for tomorrow night, there’s a lot of kind of fast swimming to come in that event, so it will be a good fight tomorrow.
“I think I’m used to coming into a meet and like straight off with like a main event and that just wasn’t the case and it wasn’t the case on day two or day three, so like, I think just building in to day four and like we still had another two days to go, which are main days for me.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what tomorrow morning (200m Butterfly) is as well, and tomorrow night will be a tough one with maybe the two of them together. So, yeah, we’ll just have fun and enjoy the meet.”
Earlier this evening, Ellie McCartney took fifth place in the final of the Women’s 200m Breaststroke.
McCartney was in third for much of the race but was edged out of the medal positions as she clocked 2:19.90 to take fifth. The race went to video referral but there was no disqualification as Germany’s Anna Elendt was declared the winner after finishing in 2:18.16. Silver went to Great Britain’s Angharad Evans in 2:18.90 and Kotryna Teterevkova of Lithuania clinched the bronze medal in 2:19.30.
The 20-year-old had entered the final as the top seed in a best time of 2:18.81 and was disappointed not to have replicated that in the final.
“I’m very disappointed, I’m not going to lie, my semi-final time would have got me a medal there, I know I have more in me, so I’m really disappointed, I thought I was doing better than that.”
John Shortt broke the Irish record as he finished in seventh place in the final of the Men’s 100m Backstroke Final, which was his second final of the week. Shortt, who won gold in the Men’s 200m Backstroke this week, clocked 50.10 as he picked up his fifth national record of the week.
The National Centre Limerick swimmer had entered the final with an Irish record of 50.16 from the semi-final, and lowered that time again this evening.
Shortt has now set a world junior record, European junior record, championship record and five Irish senior and five Irish junior records across four days of racing.
“I’m pretty happy with that, you know, would have probably liked to have been under 50, but, you know, it’s been a massive kind of, well, I suppose it’s a massive week, so look, it can’t be perfect all the time and, you know, I’ll give that record another crack at our short course (Irish Championships 12 – 14 December) in a few days’ time, so, yeah, overall very, very happy though.’
“It’s been amazing. And I’ve loved every single minute of it. I think we have an incredible team out here, we really do, just all incredible individuals and, you know, as a team, I think we work pretty well together. So, look, massive week and still a good few more swims left to go, so, it’s been really good so far.”
Shortt will be back in the pool on Saturday for the heats of the 50m Backstroke.
Eoin Corby and Adam Bradley will also be in action as they enter the 50m Breaststroke heats. Rosalie Phelan competes in the Women’s 50m Freestyle Heats and Evan Bailey, Matthew Hamilton, Bradley, and Cormac Rynn in the men’s event, while Jack Cassin swims his main event, the 200m Butterfly.
European Aquatics Short Course Swimming Championships Day 5 Schedule – Saturday 6 December
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European Short Course Championships in the water John Shortt Swimming