Teenage swimmer, 18, ‘proud to be Irish' after becoming latest world champion following sensational gold medal
SHORTT ODDS Teenage swimmer, 18, 'proud to be Irish' after becoming latest world champion following sensational gold medal
JOHN SHORTT declared "I'm so proud to be Irish" after becoming Ireland's latest swimming world champion.
The 18-year-old won gold in the 100m backstroke at the World Aquatics Junior Championships in Romania.
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John Shortt won gold at the World Aquatics Junior Championships
Credit: Sportsfile - Subscription
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He said he was proud to be Irish after the race
Credit: Sportsfile - Subscription
The Galway teenager's time of 53.86 saw him beat neutral athlete Georgii Iakovlev in 53.94, and the USA's Gavin Keogh in 54.06.
Shortt, who won European gold earlier this summer, finished just shy of his own Irish junior record of 53.80 that he set in Tuesday's semi-final.
He said: 'It feels pretty good, just so much pride at the minute, getting up there, singing my national anthem, on a World stage now, not just a European stage.
'I'm just so proud to be Irish and proud to be here. It's been a long season, but to end it like that, it's just so cool.
"The meets not finished, but I'm just saying, the last 100 back of the season, we've ended on a positive note so, I'm very happy with that.'
Shortt becomes only the second Irish swimmer to win a World junior gold medal.
He joins Mona McSharry, who won her title in 2017 before going on to win a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.
And the Galway man credited his coach John Szaranek for getting him through Tuesday's semi-final and Wednesday's finale.
He added: 'The race went really well.
"I was just holding on for dear life towards the end, but we got the hand on the wall first and that's really all that matters.
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"The strategy, that my amazing coach put in to place, was we had to be out with the guys.
"They were out so much quicker than me last night and you know they were beating me to the first 50m.
"As long as I went with them, I knew I had a chance to come back quicker than they did.
"That's exactly what happened, so [it was] all part of my brilliant coach's strategy!'
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