Walshe wins silver and Wiffen bags bronze at European Short Course Championships
by The 42 · The42LAST UPDATE | 23 hrs ago
ELLEN WALSHE AND Daniel Wiffen have added to Ireland’s impressive medal tally at the European Aquatics Short Course Swimming Championships in Lublin, Poland.
Walshe won a silver medal in the 200m Individual Medley final, while Wiffen bagged bronze in the 800m Freestyle for his third medal of the meet — and Ireland’s sixth.
Walshe also progressed to the 200m Butterfly semi-finals on a busy penultimate evening of racing.
The Dubliner was up first in finals action, registering a time of 2:04.78 in the 200m IM.
Dutch swimmer Marrit Steenbergen comfortably prevailed, marginally missing out on a world-record time as she finished in 2:01.83.
Walshe showed admirable resilience, having been in eighth position in the earlier stages of the race before a strong finish saw her take the runners-up spot. Israel’s Anastasia Gorbenko claimed bronze in 2:05.32.
Walshe returned to the pool minutes later, finishing second in her 200m Butterfly semi-final in 2:05.60 to secure automatic qualification for tomorrow’s final.
“I’m delighted to take the medal tonight,” she said. “I think it kind of just shows all the stuff I put in is paying off.
Advertisement
“I had a really successful World Cup, and I just tried to bring in some of the confidence from that and race really hard tonight, so yeah, I’m delighted with the swims.
“I had a mission I wanted to complete which is just get into a nice lane for tomorrow. The mission wasn’t finished just after the medal, it continues into tomorrow, so I guess you do kind of have to stay focussed even though you’re really excited on the inside.
“It’s staying calm and realising I’ve got another race to go and then we can celebrate tonight, then bed early and up again tomorrow, so you do kind of have to stay on it.”
Wiffen secured another podium place in the 800m Freestyle final. The Armagh man clocked a time of 7:30.14, having also battled gamely to put himself in contention.
Hungary’s Zalan Sarkany won in 7:26.84, with Lucas Henveaux of Belgium edging world record holder Wiffen out in 7:28.03.
“I do think that swim showed the training be honest, because I was on my arse on the start of that,” said Wiffen.
“But I was happy I was able to come through it at 400, but I had to kill myself to do it basically, so I’m very proud of myself and how I came back, but I’m not very happy with how I’ve lost that race.
“To be honest, I mean, I’m the world record holder in this event, like they were six seconds over my best, but for me, my race was going by my race plan but as soon as I dived in, I knew I was going to be tired from the rest of the week.
“I’ve come through a lot for the past couple of weeks, so I’m happy with the bronze, I’m still on the podium, which is a massive bonus and I won the other day, so we can’t complain.”
Elsewhere this evening, Jack Cassin finished fifth in his 200m Butterfly semi-final in 1:53.62, but missed out on progression.
“I’m obviously a little bit disappointed. I would have loved to sort of get a PB and hit that 1.52 marker, but I think there’s a lot to learn there. I still need to take some things from those big guys in that race, but I’m overall quite happy with the race.”
Wiffen (1500m Freestyle gold, 400m Freestyle bronze, 800m Freestyle bronze), Walshe (200m Individual Medley silver), Evan Bailey (200m Freestyle bronze) and John Shortt (200m Backstroke gold) have all medalled in Lublin this week.
Meanwhile, Mona McSharry has advanced to the 200m Breaststroke final at the US Open after clocking 2:27.47 in the heats.
Day 7 Schedule – Sunday 7 December
- Women 400m IM – Ellen Walshe
- Men 4x50m Medley Relay – Ireland (John Shortt, Eoin Corby, Jack Cassin, Evan Bailey)
- Women 200m Butterfly Final – Ellen Walshe