Ellen Walshe set her second Irish short-course record of the week as she won the women's 400m medley while Mona McSharry took home another silver medal at the third and final stop of the 2025 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Toronto.
Having set a new 200m butterfly record when finishing second in the event on the opening day, Walshe repeated the trick – this time taking top spot – in the city that first hosted the Swimming World Cup back in 1988.
The 24-year-old clocked a time of 4:22.97, taking over two seconds off the 4:25.38 standard she set last week, to add to the gold, silver and three bronze medals she had already won over the previous fortnight.
Second after the butterfly and backstroke legs, a big breaststroke swim, over a second faster than last week's in 1:14.2, saw her take a lead she never relinquished, to finish ahead of Canada's Mary Sophie Harvey (4:24.25) and Japan’s Mio Narita (4:26.43).
McSharry won her second medal of the weekend and fourth of the tour as she took silver once again in the 100m breaststroke final.
McSharry won her heat in 1:03.96, just .04 outside the Irish record, but improved on that time in the final, clocking 1:03.84 to knock eight hundredths of a second off her own 2021 standard of 1:03.92. It was the Sligo woman's fourth Irish record across the World Cup stops.
The USA's Kate Douglass won the event for the third week and claimed the 'triple crown’ in 1:02.93, while South Africa’s Rebecca Meder was third in 1:04.48.
Lottie Cullen also set a new Irish senior record on Friday with a time of 57.31 in the 100m backstroke heats.
That improved on the time of 57.56 set by Danielle Hill in 2023, although it still wasn’t good enough for Cullen to progress to the final.
The final day of racing in Toronto will see Walshe race the 200m individual medley with Ellie McCartney, while McSharry returns for the 50m breaststroke, where she won gold last week in Westmont.
Cullen swims the 200m backstroke, Brandon Biss the 100m backstroke, Lachey Reed the 200m breaststroke and Rosalie Phelan the 100m freestyle.
