Ellen Walshe breaks own Irish 200 IM record to qualify for Olympics

Ellen Walshe breaks own Irish 200 IM record to qualify for Olympics
Grace Fisher
Grace Fisher

Ellen Walshe took over a second off her own Irish record in the 200m IM semi-final at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, in the process qualifying for the Paris Olympics.

Her time of 2:10.92 was well inside the Paris qualifying time of 2:11.47, but unfortunately just barely outside what was needed to progress to the final.

She went into the semi-final 16th overall and finished in 9th.

"I'm delighted," said the 21-year-old Templeogue swimmer, "I was pretty nervous this morning coming into it and tonight I got the chance to do it again and I was like, just take the opportunity and enjoy it. I went out and it was the easiest swim of my life I think."

Advertisement

"It was hard this morning because you gave it 100% from the start and you didn't quite get what you wanted out of it, and you think, do I have anything left in this? And tonight I thought, you have nothing to lose, keep the faith and believe in yourself. And I was out in a side lane tonight and I just enjoyed every moment of it."

Meanwhile, the Irish 4x100m freestyle relay team — Mona McSharry, Erin Riordan, Danielle Hill, and Victoria Catterson — swam 3:41.75 to break their own two-year-old record by two and a half seconds.

Sign Up to our newsletter

Stay in the game! Get top women's sports stories, event updates, and exclusive competitions delivered to your inbox weekly!

Processing your request...

Follow us for more

Sign Up to our newsletter

Stay in the game! Get top women's sports stories, event updates, and exclusive competitions delivered to your inbox weekly!

Processing your request...

Follow us for more

Advertisement