Shortt and Davison Soar with Gold and Bronze Medals on Super Sunday in Slovakia
John Shortt and Grace Davison brought the curtain down on the 2025 European Aquatics Championships in spectacular fashion with gold and bronze medal wins on the final night of racing in Samorin, Slovakia.
It took less than ten minutes for Ireland to claim two medals as the final night of the Championships got underway, bringing Ireland’s medal tally up to four, one gold and three bronze.
John Shortt showed the true characteristics of a champion, shaking off his disappointment from Friday night’s bronze medal in the 200m Backstroke, returning to centre stage to put on a gold medal winning performance in the 100m Backstroke.
The National Centre (Limerick) man, coached by John Szaranek, headed into tonight’s final as second fastest qualifier, behind neutral athlete Georgii Iakovlev. It was Iakovlev and Italian Daniele del Signore, the 2024 Champion in the event, who led the way after the first 50m, Shortt trailing just behind. On the turn, Shortt took off passing both swimmers to get his hand on the wall first in a time of 54.09, 0.38 ahead of Iakovlev.
The Galway native has now won back-to-back European Junior gold medals in consecutive years and is the first-ever Irish swimmer to do it at that level, he is also the first male to do it at any level for Ireland.
An emotional Shortt said: “It’s been a really hard week, that 200m Backstroke was so disappointing, I was so down on myself. I had so many people around me to help me out. I’m just really emotional at the minute, it was so hard. I’m just so proud to wear the tricolour on my hat and sleeve, I’m buzzing. I’m like the terminator, I always come back, there’s nothing that can keep me down and I just proved it there. I’m going to go to worlds this summer and it’s going to be a good one, I promise you that.”
On the support: “These guys have given me so much love and support, not only the last few days but over this whole year. It’s been such a rough few weeks and it’s going to be so good to share this moment with them, I think I saw a tear in my dad’s eye so I’ll be sure to mention that to him all of the time now.”
Shortt now turns his focus to the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore and will leave for a training camp in Malaysia in ten days’ time. The 18-year-old has also secured qualification for the World Junior Championships in Romania later in August.
Grace Davison showed her class once again, winning the bronze medal in the 200m Individual Medley in a personal best time of 2:14.05, her second bronze in two days having won in the 100m Freestyle on Saturday night. The Paris Olympian had a fight on her hands and showed her steel throughout the race. As Davison and her competitors headed into the freestyle leg, Davison showed the fight to get her hand on the wall first and light up the blocks, winning her third European Junior bronze by 0.14 of a second.
After the race, the Ards swimmer said: “I’m ecstatic, I’m very glad it’s all over, I’ve had a lot of racing this week. Going through the heats, semis and finals isn’t something that I was really used to, but we’ve had to do a lot more of it with Olympic Trials last year, the Irish Open this year, I’m definitely getting used to it but it is hard work, last night took it out of me., third tonight, I’m over the moon.”
On winning bronze in a tightly contested race, she added: “It was pure grit and determination, I know how it feels from winning a medal last year, it feels so much better this year, especially to walk away with two individually. For Ireland to come away with four is unbelievable, for people back home, even the younger ones will definitely look up to that. For Ireland to be consistently on the medal table, and high up at all levels is amazing.”
On the support, she said: “It’s unreal, you probably don’t see much of it on the livestream, the guys are all here from every semi-final, every final, some even the heats. To walk out and hear all of them is unbelievable, we have been one of the loudest. To have so many parents here is great, my parents and sister are here, they’ve never all watched me swim at something like this, I really feel the support from here and back home.”
Davison now sets her sights on the World Junior Championships.
On the conclusion of the championships, interim Swim Ireland Performance Director, Andrew Reid said: “What a finish to an unforgettable European Aquatics Junior Championships. John showed incredible resilience tonight to win the 100m Backstroke after a tough bronze in the 200m Back on Friday night and Grace dug deep in the 200m IM to add another win bronze to her medal collection. Across the meet our team delivered four podium finishes (1 gold three bronze), one top eight finish, four top sixteen finishes, two new Irish records (1 senior, 1 junior) and eleven personal best swims. From our seasoned veterans to the rising stars making their national team debut, every athlete stepped up, representing Ireland with pride, passion, and determination. Well done athletes, team staff and home programme coaches for all your hard work.”
The Ireland team will arrive home to Dublin Airport (Terminal 1) on Monday at 19.20.
European Aquatics Junior Championships Day 6 Results
100m Backstroke Final John Shortt H 55.44 (2), SF 54.97 (2), F 54.09 (1)
200m IM Final Grace Davison H, 2:18.47 (13), SF 2:15.02 (3), F 2:14.05 (3)
(W) 400m Freestyle Clare Custer, 4:23.14
(M) 400m Freestyle Luca Power, 4:09.43 Tadhg O’Brien, 4:06.03 (PB), Denis O’Brien, 3:59.87 (PB)
(W) 4x100m Medley Relay Team Ireland, 4:19.80
(M) 4x100m Medley Relay Team Ireland, 3:39.11
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