Swimming at the World Aquatics Championships begins tomorrow with twelve Irish swimmers at the Marine Masse in Fukuoka, Japan.
Across eight days of competition, Irish swimmers will be looking to secure individual Olympic times as well as competing in relays; relay times will count towards the final Olympic relay selection of sixteen places in February at the conclusion of the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar.
Templeogue’s Ellen Walshe will get the competition underway for Team Ireland in the 200m Individual Medley and 100m Butterfly. Tokyo Olympian Walshe will be swimming her two of her main events just 45 minutes apart, with her eyes firmly set on making a second Olympic Games. The 21-year-old, who holds the Irish Records in both events with times of 2:12.02 and 57.96 will need to hit 2:11.47 in the 200m Individual Medley and 57.92 in the 100m Butterfly to qualify for the Paris Games.
Darragh Greene, another Tokyo Olympian, based at Swim Ireland’s National Centre in Dublin, will also be seeking a Paris qualification time when he takes to the pool for the 100m Breaststroke. The Longford native, who holds the Irish Record of 59.79, will need to improve that to 59.49 to make the Olympic Qualification Time (OQT).
Ireland’s first relay team of the week will see Mona McSharry, Danielle Hill, Erin Riordan and Victoria Catterson combine in the heats of the 4x100m Freestyle relay. The quartet will be looking to post a time within at least the Top 16 nations to secure a provisional place for Paris next year.
National Performance Director Jon Rudd, who is Team Leader for the Ireland Swimming Team in Fukuoka said, “We had an excellent Holding Camp in Phuket, Thailand as a prelude to travelling into Fukuoka and our athletes are now very much settled into their final preparations as Day 1 of the meet approaches. Spirit and mood where high in our final Team meeting on Friday and the opportunity does now present itself for all of our team, both as individuals and as relays, to show the world what they are capable of. It will be an exciting and action packed eight days, needing Ireland to set their alarms early if they wish to witness our performances first hand!”
Schedule 23rd July
Women 200m IM Ellen Walshe 2:43am IRE
Women 100m Butterfly Ellen Walshe 3:27am IRE
Men 100m Breaststroke Darragh Greene 4:27am IRE
Women 4x100m Freestyle Relay Ireland 5:03am IRE
The World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka is the first of three opportunities for Irish swimmers to secure Olympic places, the second being the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar in February 2024, and the third being the Irish Open Swimming Championships in May 2024.
Swimming at the World Aquatics Championships will take place from Sunday 23rd to Sunday 30th July.
| 2023 World Aquatics Championships (50m)
Fukuoka, Japan |
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| Name | Home Programme | Home Programme Coach |
| Victoria Catterson | National Centre (Dublin) | Steven Beckerleg |
| Tom Fannon | National Centre (Dublin) | Steven Beckerleg |
| Conor Ferguson | Loughborough University, England | Ian Hulme |
| Darragh Greene | National Centre (Dublin) | Steven Beckerleg |
| Danielle Hill | Larne SC | Peter Hill |
| Max McCusker | Arizona State University, USA | Herbie Behm |
| Mona McSharry | University of Tennessee, USA | Matt Kredich |
| Erin Riordan | National Centre (Dublin) | Steven Beckerleg |
| Shane Ryan | National Centre (Dublin) | Steven Beckerleg |
| John Shortt | National Centre (Limerick) & Bluefin SC, Galway | John Szaranek & Ian Claxton |
| Ellen Walshe | Templeogue SC, Dublin | Brian Sweeney |
| Daniel Wiffen | Loughborough University, England | Andi Manley |
