Walshe Stars on Opening Morning in Budapest

Ellen Walshe made waves with two new Irish Records and confirmed places in the 50m Butterfly Semi-Final and 200m Individual Medley Final while John Shortt set a new Irish Junior Record on the opening morning of racing at the World Swimming Championships (SC) in Budapest.

Templeogue’s Walshe showed no signs of an Olympic hangover as the Paris 2024 Finalist broke the 50m Butterfly and 200m individual Medley records in the space of forty minutes. The 23-year-old first broke her own 50m Butterfly record of 25.90 in 25.65, the previous record having stood since 2022. The time saw Walshe sixth in her heat and fourteenth overall, inside the top sixteen required for the semi-final.

The 200m Individual Medley was a bigger ask, with only the top eight progressing to the Final from the morning heats. A strong showing from Walshe saw her take almost two seconds off her best time and Irish Record finishing in 2:06.50. The former time was a bronze medal winning performance from the 2023 European Championships of 2:08.32. Walshe secured fourth place in her heat and advances sixth overall.

Speaking after her races, Walshe said ‘I’m delighted, I’ve raced a lot of short course since the start of my season in September, I just wanted to come out here and enjoy it, there’s no pressure, there’s no qualifying for any meets so you just have to get up and race. I absolutely love short course (25m), I train it every day of the week so I enjoy it and I think this meet off the Olympics is a nice bounce back for me, it can be quite daunting, do I need to take time off or whatever, so it was nice to just get straight back in and have a target which was Worlds, so we’re here now and I’m enjoying every moment’.

Walshe will have an even tighter turnaround this evening with the 50m Butterfly Semi-Final taking place at 16.43 (IRL) and 200m Individual Medley Final taking place at 17.01 (IRL).

National Centre Limerick’s John Shortt also got his Championships underway with a record-breaking performance. Shortt, who has set Irish records in both the 100m and 200m Backstroke already this season, took over a second off the 100m Backstroke Junior Record of 52.34 he set in October, clocking 51.21. The 17-year-old returns on Sunday for his favoured event, the 200m Backstroke.

Shortt spoke after the race ‘It’s nice to get off to a good start, it’s always important to start strong at something like this as you build your momentum as the week goes on, but a good race, it was good to race the guys in that heat, I’m happy out’.

In the women’s 100m Backstroke heats, Danielle Hill was just outside the semi-final placings, swimming her third fastest time ever in the event in 57.95 seconds. The Larne swimmer returns to action on Wednesday in the 100m Freestyle.

Also in action, Max McCusker was close to his personal best of 22.92, clocking 23.09 in the 50m Butterfly heats. McCusker will be back in action on Friday in the 100m Butterfly heats.

This evening, Walshe will be joined by Nathan Wiffen who makes his debut appearance for Ireland at a World Championships in the fastest heat of the 1500m Freestyle.

Day 1 Heats Results – Tuesday 10^th December

Female 100 Backstroke	Danielle Hill	57.95 (19^th)
Male 100 Backstroke	John Shortt	51.21 (21^st) IJR
Female 50 Butterfly	Ellen Walshe	25.65 (14^th) ISR
Male 50 Butterfly	Max McCusker	23.09 (32^nd)
Female 200 IM	Ellen Walshe	2:06.50 (6^th) ISR