Shane Ryan secured a place in his first world final since 2018, while Ellen Walshe broke her sixth Irish record at the World Aquatics Swimming Championships in Budapest.
Ryan improved on his time from Thursday morning's heats in the 50m backstroke to secure his place in Friday’s final, progressing through to a world final for the first time since the Short Course World Championships in 2018.
Ryan led for much of the 50m sprint but was pipped in the last five metres to finish fourth in his heat and eighth overall in 22.89, faster than his heat time of 22.98 and just .13 of a second off his Irish record of 22.76 set in that last world final in 2018, where he won 50m Backstroke bronze for Ireland.
Speaking afterwards, he said: "I'm good, but annoyed, no look I didn’t get any sleep during the day, and if you don’t get any sleep, you’ve just got to chill out the best you can and take your mind away from it, but I get very excited about racing.
"Look I came in, shoulder felt a bit better, but again it’s just lack of racing this year and I think if I do a bit more racing, I got faster there which was good, so it’s just cleaning it up again, that’s it, going out, having fun, racing the other boys, because it was fast!"
Walshe set a new Irish record in the 100m individual medley for the second time in one day, having broke her own record in the morning's heats
She swan a time of 58.85 in the morning, before she cut another .3 of a second off the record, touching in 58.55 for fourth in her heat, just missing out on the final in ninth place overall.
Walshe said: "I was in the middle lanes with the fastest girls and it’s a great race to be part of and I can see myself in the mix, but yeah it’s not a main event for me and I think sprint is very different from what I’m used to, so I’m happy enough with the swim."
Danielle Hill was just one hundredth of a second from setting a new Irish record in the Women's 50m backstroke semi-final as she clocked 26.34 to move up the world rankings from thirteenth to eleventh.
Earlier in the day Jack Cassin equalled the Irish record when bowing out of the 200m butterfly and Nathan Wiffen clocked his second-fastest time ever in the 400m freestyle when missing out on a semi-final berth.
Cassin, competing in his first Worlds at the age of 20, belied his inexperience as he equalled Brendan Hyland's 200m butterfly Irish record of 1:53.19.
That saw the nascent talent finish fourth in his heat and 16th overall. However, a semi-final berth does not beckon as the seven fastest swimmers advanced directly to the final.
Wiffen's swim of 3:44.05 in the 400m freestyle saw him finish fifth in his heat, with the Armagh man having only once clocked a faster time over a distance now short of his optimal trip.
