IRELAND LOWERED THE curtain on their World Swimming Championships campaign with a trio of youngsters putting in impressive performances on Sunday morning in Budapest.

John Shortt, Lottie Cullen and Evan Bailey were all in action, with Shortt claiming an Irish Senior record in his 200m Backstroke heat, Cullen taking five seconds off her personal best in the 200m Backstroke, and Bailey also clocking a PB.

National Centre Limerick teenager Shortt came home in 1:51.60, shaving a second off the 1:52.60 he had set just last month. That saw him finish second in his heat and 12th overall in his first short course Worlds. The 17-year-old had also set an Irish Junior Record in the 100m Backstroke earlier in the week.

“I’m feeling good,” Shortt said. “Two really good swims in one week. My past two World Championships, some swims have been quite disappointing, so to be coming here and getting two personal bests and being 12th in the world is really cool. I’m really delighted with it.”

Peering ahead to the long-course season, Shortt added his aim was “just to keep swimming fast.”

“I mean we have three summer competitions that I could be making with European Juniors, Worlds and World Juniors,” he added.

“So just making sure that I can translate all the skills that I’ve gotten from short course — the turns, the underwaters — and make sure I bring them into the long-course season. I do prefer long-course to be honest, because obviously the Olympics aren’t short course so, yeah, I’m excited.”

Lottie Cullen, originally of Swim Belfast and now based at the University of Houston, took an incredible five seconds off her best time in the 200m Backstroke to finish 13th in the World on her debut in the competition.

Cullen, whose previous best stood at 2:10.35, touched in 2:05.57 to become Ireland’s second fastest-ever swimmer in the event, behind double Olympian Melanie Nocher (2:04.29).

“I’m really happy with it,” said the 20-year-old. “I haven’t swum the event in about a year, so I just wanted to get in and get a good time, so I was quite surprised with the five-second drop.”

National Centre Limerick’s Evan Bailey got the action underway for Ireland on Sunday morning with a personal-best swim in the 200m Freestyle.

The New Ross man clocked 1:43.61 in his World Championships debut to finish fifth place in his heat and inside the top 18 in the World.

“Yeah, I’m happy with it,” Bailey said. “I had a different goal in mind, I didn’t hit it, but a second faster than last year so I can’t be disappointed with it.

“To always progress, I’m happy with, and to learn from these guys around me… just everything is constructive and working towards getting faster on this stage and hopefully improve myself more.”

The Irish team departs Hungary with a bronze medal courtesy of Shane Ryan in the 50m Backstroke as well as 15 new Irish Records (eight of which were produced Ellen Walshe), five top-eight finishes, and eleven more inside the top 16.

Swim Ireland performance director Jon Rudd said of these Worlds: “This has been six exceptional days of racing from this Irish team with so much achieved across 11 sessions of racing – and none more so that Shane Ryan taking home a World medal, his first in six years, and Ellen Walshe demonstrating her incredible resilience and versatility as she smashed Irish senior records on eight occasions across the meet.

“When you arrive at a World Championships without your two Olympic medallists on the team, some might have wondered if the nation would feature strongly. This group put that concern to bed very quickly.

“With 13 Irish senior records (from four athletes) and two Irish junior records, Irish swimming history got another re-write, and this blend of experience and youth ensured five finals and 11 semi-finals across the course of the meet.

“The amazing performances at the Paris Olympics have given everyone who wears this prestigious green jacket an extra spring in their stride and we can certainly look forward to the long-course season in the new year with even more excitement, hope and determination.”

The 50m season will kick off in earnest with the Irish Open Championships between 12 and 16 April, with the long-course Worlds taking place in Singapore in July.