Sport

Ellen Walshe lowers her Irish record to finish fifth in 200m IM at World Short Course Swimming Championships

Templeogue swimmer also bested her national record in the 50m butterfly semi-final in Budapest

Ellen Walshe after finishing fifth in the women's 200m individual medley final at the World Aquatics Short Course Swimming Championships at the Duna Arena in Budapest. Photograph: Andrea Masini/Inpho
Ellen Walshe after finishing fifth in the women's 200m individual medley final at the World Aquatics Short Course Swimming Championships at the Duna Arena in Budapest. Photograph: Andrea Masini/Inpho
Tue Dec 10 2024 - 19:42

Ellen Walshe has further improved her Irish records in the 200m individual medley and 50m butterfly on the first night of finals at the World Short Course Swimming Championships in Budapest having already set new records in the events during this morning’s heats.

In the 50m butterfly semi-final, the Templeogue swimmer touched the wall in 25.45, shaving 0.2 seconds off her time from the heats to finish 14th overall.

Twenty minutes later the 23-year-old was back for the 200m IM final, finishing fifth in a time of 2:05.52.

Commenting on her latest record-breaking swim, Walshe said: “It’s a massive step forward from last year and I’m delighted it’s another second off this morning’s (200m IM) swim, which I wasn’t sure if we could find, but it was there, so absolutely delighted.”

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Nathan Wiffen also made his World Championships debut in the 1500m freestyle heats, clocking a personal best of 14:32.65 to finish ninth overall.

Speaking after the race, Wiffen said: “I’m pretty happy with that, I’ve had a long Summer and then to come back and get a six second pb I’m pretty happy.

“I think I lost it a bit after the 1000 (metre) mark, I just felt wrecked to be honest, as I tried to go out quite hard. But pleased with that, a pb, you can’t ask for much more.”

Walshe and Wiffen are back in action on Thursday for the 100m IM and 400m freestyle respectively.

On Wednesday, Danielle Hill and Shane Ryan will swim in the 100m freestyle while Niamh Coyne and Eoin Corby compete in the 100m breaststroke.