Ireland's John Shortt has claimed gold at the European Short Course Championship, 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 were beginning to tell and Shortt was eating into his lead all the time.
With 50m to go, that lead has been 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 claim gold.
Bronze went to Jan Cejka of the Czech Republic.
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 record Irish time of 1:42.01.
The Irish swimmer posted the sixth-fastest time of the eight swimmers that progressed to the final.
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 ensurance event.
"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.
Earlier, Ellen Walshe qualified for the women's 100m individual medley semi-finals after finishing third in her heat with an Irish record time.
The two-time Olympian's time of 58.80, lowered the previous national mark by 0.05 seconds, and was fourth fastest overall from the heats and the Templeogue swimmer will be back in the pool at 7.16pm Irish time in a bid to reach the final.
Walshe 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.
She returned to the pool later on Wednesday morning, alongside Eoin Corby, Rosalie Phelan and John Shortt, as Ireland missed out on a place in the final of the mixed 4x50m medley relay after finishing fifth in the second heat and 11 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.
Meanwhile, Evan Bailey made it through to the semis of the men's 200m freestyle after the New Ross native set the 13th fastest time of 1:42.68 in the morning heats, lowering the five-year-old Irish record in the process.
Speaking after the race he said: "It hurt quite a lot for a heat swim. It was a lot quicker than I expected it to be; it was 1:46 two years ago to make it back for a semi-final, and it was 1:43 today.
"Sitting in the call room I knew I had to be on it — this event is always stacked. I'm very happy."
Cormac Rynn (1:45.43), Denis O'Brien (1:49.65) and Jack Cassin (1:45.92) did not progress to the semis which will take place this evening at 6.44pm Irish time.
Later on Wednesday, Ellie McCartney (100m breaststroke) will be competing in her final.
