Daniel Wiffen has won bronze in the men's 400m freestyle final at the European Aquatics Short Course Swimming Championships in Lublin, Poland, with Belfast man Jack McMillan taking gold for Great Britain.
It's a huge result for McMillan, who competed for Ireland in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay at the Tokyo Games.
Wiffen - who was in lane 4 with McMillan beside him in lane 5 - was fourth after a very quick first 100m, making his move when they reached the halfway mark.
McMillan went with him heading for the last 100m, setting up a grandstand finish. Wiffen couldn’t find the kick required to reel in McMillan, who won it in 3:36.33, with the German Lukas Martens surging to second in 3:36.51.
Wiffen touched the wall in 3:37.02 to finish third.
The Paris 2024 800m gold medalist had been fastest of all across all seven heats, in a time of 3:37.04, in what was his first competitive appearance since the World Championships in Singapore in August, following his recovery from appendix surgery.
"I'm going to say I’m really happy, taking that long out of the water and having that surgery process and then having to come back and be at my best again and all the stuff towards moving to California," he said afterwards.
"It’s amazing to be back on the podium, I’m just a little bit gutted because I kind of died a bit, because I wanted it.
"I thought we may as well go for the world record because we were so close. It was a great race, two Northern Irishmen on the podium."
The 24-year-old will be back in action on Wednesday in the heats of the 1500m freestyle.
Under-23 European champion Ellie McCartney produced a super swim to make the women's 100m breaststroke final after finishing fifth in a blistering semi-final.
The Enniskillen woman came home in 1:04.75, and that proved enough to qualify her as the eighth fastest swimmer across both semis.
McCartney will be back in the pool on Wednesday morning for the 100m individual medley where she will be joined by Ellen Walshe.
"I'm really happy with the time and I’m really happy as I’ve been struggling with the event this year," she reflected. "To get it right, in the semi-finals, in order to make the final, I’m really happy with it. I just love getting in and racing girls that are faster than me so I can chase them, so I think that really pushes me on and it helps to get PBs at the right time."
Galway teenager John Shortt kept the good vibes coming by smashing the Irish record to qualify for the men's 200m backstroke.
Shortt, in lane 5, was second at the halfway point, and took the lead around the 160m. He did not look back, steaming home in 1:48.84. He was the only swimmer across the two semi-finals to dip below 1:49 and will be the top seed for Wednesday's final.
The 18-year-old finished second in his heat with an Irish record time of 1:50.65 but lowered that emphatically to get out of the semis.
"I just wanted to be 1:49.9, to be 1:48.8 I can't help but not be surprised with that, but also just really happy you know," said Shortt. "I’m coming back into a nice bit of form now, we’re building nicely into the rest of the week and then long course season is soon enough."
Earlier in the 400m freestyle, Cormac Rynn made a strong start from lane seven in heat four to move into second at the halfway point, before the Roscommon man finished fourth in 3:44.50, while Limerick's Denis O'Brien finished ninth in a time of 3:52.91 in the preceding heat.
Neither advanced to this evening's final.
Two-time Olympian Ellen Walshe - the top seed in all three of her events - missed out on a place in the women's 50m butterfly semi-finals after finishing seventh in her heat in 25.86, while Rosalie Phelan also did not advance after winning the opening heat in 26.88.
In the opening heat of the men's 50m butterfly Jack Cassin and Evan Bailey finished second and third respectively in 23.34 and 23.73, but neither progressed to the semis. Matthew Hamilton was fourth in the following heat (23.91).
Eoin Corby was third in his men's 100m breastroke heat with a time of 58.34 but missed out on the semi-final spots, after Adam Bradley had come home seventh in the preceding heat in 59.54.
Watch the action from Lublin live on Eurovision Sport.
