31-07-2025
Ellie McCartney and John Shortt progress to semi-finals at World Aquatics Championships
and John Shortt have progressed to the semi-finals in the women's 200m backstroke and the men's 200m backstroke respectively at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
Later today, at 12.02pm Irish time, Ellen Walshe competes in the final of the 200m butterfly but before that, there were five Irish competitors in action during the morning session.
Enniskillen swimmer McCartney placed third in her heat, clocking a time of 2:25.22 and qualifying for the semi-final as eighth fastest overall.
Speaking after the 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 breast(stroke) this year, made it my main event over the 200m IM.
"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."
McCartney, who claimed gold at the Under-23 European Championships in June, swims in her semi-final at 12.45pm Irish time this afternoon.
Galway's Shortt finished fourth in his heat in the 200m backstroke, progressing to the semi-finals as the 14th fastest overall.
The 18-year old clocked a time of 1:56.98, narrowly missing out on the Irish record of 1:56.61.
"It felt really good, the first 100m I was smooth and controlled," said Shortt afterwards, who also reached the semi-finals at last year's World Championships in Doha.
Shortt's backstroke semi-final is scheduled for 1.31pm this afternoon (Irish time).
There was disappointment for Eoin Corby in the men's 200m breaststroke, clocking a time of 2:11.84 and finished 20th overall, five spots outside the qualifying places.
Corby said afterwards, "I'm a bit disappointed. 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 Danielle Hill touched in 56.59 seconds, finishing 37th overall and well outside the qualifying places.
The Larne swimmer returns to the blocks on Friday for her main event, the 50m freestyle, an event she holds the Irish record in, in 24.68.
Jake Passmore placed 27th overall from 66 divers in the 3M Springboard Preliminaries.
The 2024 Olympian was just 14 points outside the top 18 places required for the semi-final with 360.60 points. Nonetheless, Passmore was satisfied with his performance in the context of a difficult year in which he has been ruled out of action for six months due to shoulder surgery.
"Overall, can't complain today," Passmore said. "Not the best performance but I'm really pleased that despite the difficult year I've had, I've managed to stay competitive."
