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Updated Irish records set by Danielle Hill, Ellen Walshe, Victoria Catterson and John Shortt at the European Short Course Championships

Ellen Walshe
Ellen Walshe

Irish swimmers set four new national records and had five European top-ten finishes, with Ellen Walshe finishing fourth in the 100m butterfly final.

Walshe swam an Irish record of 56.67, taking one hundredth of a second off her own 2021 time of 56.68, and was just .69 behind the bronze medallist.

Just 30 minutes later, the Templeogue swimmer was back on the blocks for the 200m individual medley final where she was sixth overall in 2:09.57, outside the record of 2:08.50 that she set in Friday's semi-final.

Walshe was back in the pool once again for the semi-finals of the 50m butterfly where she lowered her heat time of 25.99 to 25.97 to place 12th overall.

Danielle Hill set yet another Irish record in the 100m backstroke final, the Larne swimmers sixth record of the championships. Hill, who placed fourth in the 50m backstroke final was sixth overall in the final of the 100m event in 57.56, lowering the record of 57.73 that she set in the semi-final.

In the 200m freestyle, Victoria Catterson swam her second Irish record of the day, dipping under the 1:56 mark for the first time to finish sixth in her semi-final and 12th overall in 1:55.94.

Catterson took almost a second off the record of 1:56.90 that she set earlier on Saturday, a time of 1:57.29 that Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympian Melanie Nocher had held since 2011.

John Shortt backed up his Irish senior and junior record set in the 200m backstroke heats on Saturday morning with another record in the semi-finals. The 16-year-old lowered his time from 1:54.21 to 1:54.02 to place fifth in his heat and 11th overall.

Also competing in the 200m individual medley, Ellie McCartney, swimming in her first senior international final, in her first season as a senior athlete, finished eighth out of the competitors in 2:12.40.

In the men's 100m freestyle, Ireland was represented by Shane Ryan and Max McCusker, in the first semi-final. Ryan, the Irish record holder in the event, posted the faster time of the duo in 47.23 for tenth overall, while McCusker was 16th in 48.57.

Nathan Wiffen (l) and Daniel Wiffen

Daniel and Nathan Wiffen have secured places in Sunday's 800m freestyle final at the European Short Course Championships in Romania after finishing first and fifth overall in the heats.

Daniel, the European record holder in the event, came home in 7:33.38 to secure the centre lane for the final.

Nathan was second in his heat, posting a second personal best time of 7:34.78. His previous best was 7:46.40 which he swam during the 1500m freestyle final on Thursday.

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