IRELAND’S SHANE RYAN has earned his spot in the final of the men’s 50m backstroke at the World Swimming Championships in Budapest.

Ryan improved on his time from Thursday morning’s heats to reach Friday’s final, which is his first final at the competition since the 2018 World Championships. After leading for much of his semi-final, he took fourth in a time of 22.89 to progress in eighth overall.

His time was just .13 of a second off his Irish record of 22.76 which he set in that last World Final in 2018, where he won a bronze medal.

“I’m good, but annoyed,” he said after his race. “No look I didn’t get any sleep during the day, and if you don’t get any sleep, you’ve just got to chill out the best you can and take your mind away from it, but I get very excited about racing.

“But look I came in, shoulder felt a bit better, but again it’s just lack of racing this year and I think if I do a bit more racing, I got faster there which was good, so it’s just cleaning it up again, that’s it, going out, having fun, racing the other boys, because it was fast!”

𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗨𝗟𝗧 - 𝗠𝗲𝗻 𝟱𝟬𝗺 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗲 𝗦𝗙

Shane Ryan is through to his first 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 since 2018!

A brilliant swim saw Shane 4th in his SF advancing in 8th overall in 22.89.#AQUABudapest2024 pic.twitter.com/OJYbaCWDcz

— Swim Ireland (@swimireland) December 12, 2024

Ellen Walshe broke her sixth Irish record in three days of racing, taking .3 of a second off her time in the 100m individual medley. She touched the wall in 58.55 to finish fourth in her semi-final and ninth overall to just miss out on a place in the final.

“I was in the middle lanes with the fastest girls and it’s a great race to be part of and I can see myself in the mix, but yeah it’s not a main event for me and I think sprint is very different from what I’m used to, so I’m happy enough with the swim,” she said.

Danielle Hill was just one hundredth of a second off her Irish record in the women’s 50m backstroke semi-final as she clocked 26.34 to climb up from 13th in the world rankings to eleventh. 

Speaking after her race, the Larne swimmer said:

“I’m happy that I done what I wanted to from heats to semi’s and fixed what I wanted to fix, 50s are so hard because you’ve got to get everything right, the littlest of errors and it will go against you so yeah listen, I fixed what I wanted to fix is the best way to put it.”

Hill returns to the pool on Saturday for the 50m Freestyle.

Joining Ryan and Walshe in action on Friday, National Centre Limerick’s Ellie McCartney and Eoin Corby will compete in the 200m Breaststroke. McCartney is making her World Championships debut for Ireland, while Max McCusker returns for the 100m Butterfly heats.

Day 4 Heats Schedule – Friday 13th December

Female 200m Breaststroke – Ellie McCartney
Male 200m Breaststroke – Eoin Corby
Female 100m Butterfly – Ellen Walshe
Male 100m Butterfly – Max McCusker
Male 50m Backstroke Final – Shane Ryan