Walshe Stars at Irish Open with Freestyle Record

Double Olympian Ellen Walshe was the star of Tuesday morning of the Irish Open Championships as the Templeogue swimmer set a new Irish Record in the 200m Freestyle. Walshe now owns five Irish Senior long course records with the Freestyle, 100m and 200m Butterfly and 200m and 400m Individual Medley.

Entering the heats with a best time of 2:00.39 from the McCullagh International in February, the 23-year-old took over a second off her best time to come home in 1:59.31 and is now only the third Irishwoman to swim under the two-minute mark. Walshe broke Victoria Catterson’s mark of 1:59.74 from 2023.

Daniel and Nathan Wiffen lead the qualifiers for Wednesday’s 1500m Freestyle Final after the duo eased through the heats in 16:15.99 and 16:19.39 respectively. National Centre Limerick’s Daragh Horgan (16:27.44) and Denis O’Brien (16:33.04) will be third and fourth.

400m and 1500m National Champion Clare Custer will take the centre lane for the 800m Freestyle Final on Wednesday in 9:08.42. The Sundays Well swimmer cruised to the top seed ahead of Aura Dundalk’s Rebekah Friel (9:20.87) and Aer Lingus’ Anna Nikishkina (9:26.83).

200m Freestyle National Champion Evan Bailey will be the top seed for this evening’s 100m Freestyle Semi-Final after a personal best swim of 49.17. The 20-year-old had already achieved consideration times for the World University Games and U23 Championships in the 200m Freestyle and now adds the 100m Freestyle to both events. The New Ross native finished ahead of three-time Olympian and Irish Record holder in the event Shane Ryan. Ryan clocked 49.49 with his best and Irish Record a 48.39 from Olympic Trials in 2024. In fourth place, Larne’s Thomas Leggett achieved consideration for the European U23 Championships in 50.16.

National Centre Limerick’s Ellie McCartney continued her excellent form on Tuesday morning adding a consideration time in the 200m Breaststroke to the 100m Breaststroke and 200m Individual Medley times already achieved for both the World University Games and European Aquatics U23 Championships. McCartney’s time of 2:26.39 is just off the World Aquatics Championships consideration time of 2:25.91 and the 20-year-old will no doubt be aiming for that when she goes as the top seed in Tuesday evening’s semi-final.

Eoin Corby is the top seed for the Men’s 200m Breaststroke Semi-Finals, the National Centre Limerick swimmer touching in 2:15.10 ahead of National Centre Dublin’s Liam O’Connor (2:20.28) and Bangor’s Adam Bradley (2:22.26).

After a gold medal win in the 100m Butterfly on Monday night, National Centre Limerick’s Jack Cassin was back in the pool and leads the qualifiers in the 200m Butterfly. Cassin, already under consideration for the European U23 Championships in the 100m Butterfly and 200m Freestyle adds the 200m Butterfly to his list in 2:00.09. In fifth place Blackrock’s Phelim Hanley achieved a consideration for the European Junior Championships in 2:06.86 and tenth overall Shea Mathers of Banbridge was under the consideration time for the European Youth Olympic Festival in 2:11.13.

The final event on Tuesday morning saw Olympian Danielle Hill lead the qualifiers in the 50m Freestyle. Hill will be the top seed for this evening’s Semi-Finals in 25.34 followed by National Centre Dublin’s Rosalie Phelan in 26.17 and Ards’ Grace Davison in 26.25.

Tuesday evening’s session will include Finals of the Female and Open 200m Backstroke, Female 100m Butterfly, Open 200m IM and Semi-Finals in the Female and Open 200m Breaststroke, Female 50m and 200m Freestyle, Open 200m Butterfly and 100m Freestyle.

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