Ireland's John Shortt has claimed 200m backstroke gold at the European Short Course Championships, setting a new world junior record with a stunning swim in Poland, winning in a time of 1:47.89.
Swimming out of lane four, having set a national record to secure his place in the final, the 18-year-old started strongly and made the halfway turn in second place with France's Mewen Tomac setting a blistering early pace.
Tomac was looking to blow away the rest of the field in the early stages but the Galway teenager managed to keep pace with the Frenchman, stalking him as the race progressed.
Tomac held a 1.05 second lead at the halfway mark but his early exertions began to tell and Shortt cut into his lead all the time.
With 50m to go, that lead was whittled down to .28 of a second and a stunning final turn saw Short pull ahead of Tomac, who looked drained at this point.
Shortt powered for home to tip the wall and ensure his first senior medal is a gold one. Bronze went to Jan Cejka of the Czech Republic.
"I'd be a massive liar if I said I didn't think I had that in me," he said post-race. "I honestly didn't really think I was going to lose that. I just felt something last night, where I just felt unbeatable and, you know, now it's just pride, it's just washing over me now and I just honestly can't believe it, it's amazing."
Shortt, who returns to the pool on Thursday morning in the 100m backstroke heats, outlined his pride at his latest achievement.
"I'm so passionate for this flag that's wrapped around me, I mean, the people that have come and gone in this sport," he said.
"I'm just doing it for them really, and doing it for the people back home who aren’t here."
In the men's 200m freestyle, Evan Bailey - pictured below - posted another national record to finish third in his semi-final and advance to the final.
Great Britain’s Duncan Scott won in a time of 1:41.56, with Bailey pipped for second by Lithuania’s Tomas Lukminas by one hundredth of a second, finishing third in a new Irish record of 1:42.01.
The Irish swimmer posted the sixth-fastest time of the eight swimmers that progressed to the final.
Ellen Walshe also has final action to look forward to on Thursday after lowering the Irish record for the second time today.
The 24-year-old posted a time of 58.80, but lowered that to 58.19 to finish her semi-final third behind Czech Republic's Barbora Janickova (57.97) and Roos Vanotterdijk of Belgium (58.02).
She qualifies as the fifth-fastest of the semi-finalists.
The two-time Olympian had missed out on a place in the women's 50m butterfly semi-finals after finishing seventh in her heat in 25.86 on Tuesday.
"I knew I was going to have to put in a big performance, obviously for Shortty (John Shortt), Evan and Ellie who did fantastic beforehand, so it's a bit of pressure on tonight," she said afterwards.
"I'm going to have to find some sprinting feet tomorrow because that's a pretty quick final. I think the individual medley has moved on as well, it just all becomes a sprint. I think to be back in the 100s is a bit of a surprise for me, but I'll take my opportunity tomorrow and hopefully enjoy it."
In the women's 100m breaststroke final, Ellie McCartney finished eighth in a time of 1:05.25.
The Under-23 European champion reached the final as the eighth fastest swimmer, but failed to match her semi-final time display (1:04.75), touching the wall 1:05.25 in a race won by Estonia’s Eneli Jefimova in a championship record time of 1:02.82.
Earlier in the day Daniel Wiffen eased into the final of the men's 1500m freestyle after finishing second in his heat.
The Paris 2024 Olympic gold medalist, who already has one medal from the championships after claiming bronze in the men's 400m freestyle final on Tuesday evening, finished in a time of 14:24.38 which was third fastest overall from the heats.
He will contest the final on Thursday evening at 6.12pm Irish time.
Wiffen quickly hit the front from lane three at the start of the race and vied for the early lead with Germany's Florian Wellbrock, the 10km open water gold medal winner from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, who nudged ahead in the opening 500m.
Wiffen then took charge of the race, pushing well clear of Wellbrock in the lane next to him by the halfway mark.
The Magheralin man eased off in the latter stages which allowed the fast-finishing Swede Victor Johnasson to pip him by 0.4 seconds at the end.
Wiffen said his exertions in Tuesday's 400m final cost him towards the end of the endurance event.
He said: "It was a good time. It hurt a little more than I wanted, but after last night's final I got back quite late. I’m pretty happy and we move on to tomorrow.
"I just parked last night, it was amazing and it’s a great start to the season – but I am a distance swimmer at heart, so the 1500m is my favourite event."
Hungary's Zalan Sarkany was quickest overall in the heats with a time that was 0.43 faster than Wiffen's.
In what was a busy day for Walshe and Shortt, they were also part of the mixed 4x50m medley relay that fell short in reaching a final. Alongside Eoin Corby and Rosalie Phelan, the quartet finished fifth in the second heat and 11th fastest overall in a time of 1:40.54.
While they did not make it through, it was a new national record and marked the first time an Irish quartet had dipped below 1:41.00.
Watch the action from Lublin live on Eurovision Sport.
