Ellie McCartney and John Shortt qualify for semi-finals on good day for Irish at World Aquatics Championships

Irish Independent

6 days ago

McCartney was in fine form in the 200m breaststroke, finishing third in her heat with a time of 2:25.22 – the fifth fastest of her career and her second quickest ever morning swim. The 20-year-old, who trains at the National Centre Limerick, progressed to the semi-finals ranked eighth overall, building on a breakthrough season that has already seen her post a lifetime best of 2:24.02 at April's Irish trials.
Speaking after her race, McCartney said: "'I'm over the moon. I think I take a lot of pride on the journey to get to the World Championships, I've dropped a lot of time in the 200m breaststroke this year, made it my main event over the 200m individual medley. So being able to come here, having two A standard times, it's something I take a bit of pride in and now to progress further to the semi-final, it's just a happy ending to the long summer.'
The Enniskillen native, who enjoyed a medal-laden campaign at the European U23 Championships in June, added: "I think there was a lot of success, but there was a lot of room to work on. I know heat swims aren't my strongest, all my PBs come from an evening swim, so my main focus here was to be fast in the heat, so to be able to achieve that this morning and make it back tonight, it's exciting.'
McCartney will be joined in tonight's finals session by teammate Ellen Walshe, who lines out in the 200m butterfly final.
Also advancing to a semi-final is McCartney's Limerick training partner John Shortt. The 18-year-old produced a composed swim in the 200m Backstroke, stopping the clock in 1:56.98, just shy of his Irish record of 1:56.61, to place 14th overall and seal his place in the next round.
"It's such a such a long wait during the week and you're seeing everybody else race around you, and everybody going either a best time or not doing so well. This is such a nerve wracking experience when you're just waiting around to go,' the Galway man said.
"It's so good just to get in there and make it back, it's class. It felt really good, the first 100m I was smooth and controlled. I think getting in for the 100 (backstroke) was a big thing because I was able to know exactly what happens. When I don't think in my head, I kind of start racing the people beside me, but in that one, I just swam my own race. I was smooth, I was controlled, it was really good.'
Elsewhere, Eoin Corby was narrowly edged out of a semi-final place in the men's 200m breaststroke, finishing just outside the top 16. The Limerick swimmer clocked 2:11.84, securing a top-20 placing.
"I'm a bit disappointed,' Corby admitted. "I don't know, I gave it my best shot. I was a small bit off my PB, it's a bit annoying that my PB would have made it back, but yeah, I just need to come back better next year.'
In the 100m Freestyle, Larne's Danielle Hill posted a time of 56.59 seconds. Hill, who holds the Irish record in the 50m Freestyle, will return to action in that event on Friday.
Meanwhile, Mona McSharry did not contest the 200m breaststroke but is still scheduled to compete in the 50m breaststroke on Saturday.
In diving, Jake Passmore finished 27th overall in the Men's 3m springboard preliminaries with a score of 360.60 – just 14 points short of a place in the semi-finals. The Paris Olympian, who has only recently returned to full training following shoulder surgery, showed flashes of his quality, scoring 68.20 points on his opening dive.
"Overall, can't complain today,' he said. "Not the best performance but I'm really pleased that despite the difficult year I've had I've managed to stay competitive and put myself in a position that I can be proud of. Getting the opportunity to compete again makes me really excited for what I can do in the next couple of years.'