‘Ecstatic' Ellie McCartney swims lifetime best to make 200m breaststroke final at the World Aquatics Championships
The Enniskillen native has now dropped over three seconds from her personal best since the beginning of the year, when she held a time of 2:26.76. Her semi-final performance was also more than a second quicker than her heat swim earlier in the day (2:25.22).
"I'm ecstatic,' McCartney said. 'You know, this is what we train for, we train to perform in the heats, make it through the semis and progress through the rounds. And I think that's really been a strength this year that I've been able to progress through each of the rounds. So, to make it to a World Championship final in my first worlds, it's really exciting.
"I think here it's just been so unpredictable, you know, you get top two, top three in a semi-final and you're not guaranteed a final, so it's important that you just put your best foot down and whether or not I made the final, I would be able to walk away satisfied just because, you know, I put my best foot forward and PB'd, you know, I know I've left everything in the pool."
Looking ahead to Friday's showdown, scheduled for 1.08pm (Irish time), she added: 'Oh, it's going to be such an eye-opening experience. You know, I've never been at this level, never mind in a final at this level. So, I think just, I have to thank my coaching staff for getting me this far and the support they've had and I'm very thankful to have my coach alongside me here, which always does help things."
Meanwhile, Ellen Walshe brought her week to a high-profile stage once again, competing in the final of the Women's 200m butterfly. The Templeogue swimmer posted 2:08.34, the second-fastest time of her career, to finish eighth in a field led by Canada's Summer McIntosh, who clocked the second-fastest time ever recorded in the event (2:01.99).
'I think even if I was to go back and think I'd be in that final, I would have been like, absolutely not, but I guess expectations build as you are a competitor, but yeah, it's just a poor performance tonight,' said Walshe, reflecting on the performance.
With one major race still to come, Sunday's 400m individual medley, where she reached the final in Paris earlier this year – the 23-year-old is now focused on recovery: 'I think the expectation now is just rest and recovery. I think I've raced six races that I probably didn't think I'd be in, so, yeah, I think the important thing now is just to recover and wait to see what happens on Sunday. It's a big heat ahead, I think going in heat two, and it's quite stacked, so it'd be interesting to see how it goes."
Elsewhere on day five, John Shortt was in semi-final action in the 200m backstroke. The 18-year-old posted his third-fastest time ever with a 1:57.30, finishing 15th overall and narrowly missing out on a place in the final.
'Just wasn't as fast as I would have liked it, but you know what? It's been a really long summer already, so to be going my third best time or whatever it is, I really cannot be too angry at myself for that,' said the Galway native.
Shortt won't have long to rest, as he's set to return on Friday alongside Evan Bailey, Cormac Rynn and Jack Cassin in the 4x200m freestyle relay as part of a team comprised entirely of swimmers from the National Centre Limerick.
'I'm really proud to be a part of that team, and to be in that environment with them every day is unbelievable and they've all swam so well this week and you know they'll show it again tomorrow. And Cormac, his World Championship debut, I'm super excited because we used to race together in small Connacht galas and stuff like that, so for us to be here, at Worlds together is very, very special,' said Shortt.
In addition to the relay, Jack Cassin will compete in the 100m butterfly on Friday, while Olympic semi-finalist Tom Fannon will make his long-awaited debut in Singapore in the 50m freestyle.
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