Olympic finalist Ellen Walshe and Olympic medallist Mona McSharry will spearhead Swim Ireland’s 12-strong team into this summer’s World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, one year on from an Olympic Games which saw the Irish swimming team returned from Paris with three medals.
The team will be vying for semi-final and final appearances across all eight days of competition. Exciting prospects join wise and experienced heads who will don the green jacket in Singapore, with Ellie McCartney among others prominently indicating the exciting youth that is coming to the fore in Irish swimming; such athletes will take their seats on the plane for Kallang alongside last year’s European Champion Danielle Hill.
With ten athletes named to the European Aquatics Under 23 Championships team in Slovakia, this will form a final World Championships preparation meet for five athletes who are Singapore-bound, whilst the remainder of the team will focus on this Championships as the pinnacle point for their summer racing. With the World University Games being held at the same time as the World Championships in 2025, only Lottie Cullen can be nominated to Student Sport Ireland for this team.
Two European Aquatics Junior Championship events, one pool-based and one of open-water competition see teams of 16 and 2 athletes named respectively to feature in Europe’s hottest competitions for those 18 years of age and under. Having won medals at this event last year, Olympian Grace Davison will be hoping to add to her collection in her final year of eligibility.
Swim Ireland have nominated a group of athletes to the Olympic Federation of Ireland for this summer’s European Youth Olympic Festival in Macedonia, with names to be confirmed at a later stage, and the summer will be completed with a June selection to the World Aquatics Junior Championships, with the aforementioned European Junior Championships serving as the Irish Trials for this event which is being held in Romania during August.