Ellie McCartney claimed the gold medal in the women's 200m individual medley event at the European U23 Swimming Championships in Slovakia on Thursday.
McCartney took gold in a new personal best of two minutes 12.50 seconds and was 1.22 ahead of second-placed Bertille Cousan of France, with Slovakia's Tamara Potocka claiming bronze.
Sitting in third place after the the butterfly and backstroke legs of the race, the Enniskillen native powered to the front during her favoured breaststroke leg and was able to hold that lead in the final freestyle leg.
The 20-year-old ensures that the title stays in Ireland after Ellen Walshe claimed victory in the inaugural edition of the race at these championships, winning in Dublin in 2023.
"I'm definitely excited, I wasn’t expecting it," McCartney, who swims out of the National Centre Limerick, said.
"Coming in, I knew I was fastest seed but I knew the other girls had faster times in them, their PBs were quite a bit faster than mine, so you just get in, race who’s there on the day and get your hand to the wall first and to get my hand on the wall first is really exciting.
"Not only that, but for Irish swimming, every time this has been raced at U23s it’s been Irish girls who won it, so exciting for the future ahead to see who we can pass the baton on to win the 200m IM next."
McCartney will be back in action on Friday morning in the heats of the 100m breaststroke.
Meanwhile, Mona McSharry swam a seasons' best 1:06.86 in the 100m breaststroke final to claim a silver medal at the Settecolli Trophy in Rome behind Great Britain’s Angharad Evans.
