Ellen Walshe will not take part in the semi-finals of the women's 100m butterfly at the European Short Course Championships in Lublin, Poland this evening despite winning her heat on Thursday morning.
The Templeogue swimmer was sixth after the opening 50 metres - albeit just 0.49 off the lead - but a storming finish saw her surge from third to first in the last 25 to set a time of 57.38, which was seventh fastest from Thursday's trio of heats - Finland's Laura Lahtinen was the quickest in 55.39.
The semi-finals are scheduled for 7.34pm Irish time but the two-time Olympian Walshe has opted not to take part in those as she is already due to be competing in this evening's 100m individual medley final at 6pm which will now be her primary target for the day.
Over the coming days, she is also tackling the 200m individual medley, 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley.
On the hectic schedule that she is facing and the dilemmas she has in picking what to focus on, she said: "I think I could have quite a few doubles coming to me over the next three days, so I think it's just going to be like, what do I pick and choose? I think I'll have to be a bit more selective so yeah, we'll just have to wait and see how tonight goes and then how I bring it forward for the next few days."
Ellie McCartney also won the opening heat in the women's 200m breaststroke to ease into the semi-finals as second fastest overall in a time of 2:21.39.
The Enniskillen native will be back in the pool for the semis at 6.32pm Irish time.
"This morning was the case of getting the job done, winning the heat, trying to put myself in a good lane for the semi-final tonight," she said.
"I'm excited, this is the event I came here for, so hopefully there's more to come. I think my 100m breaststroke was faster than I expected, so hopefully that translates well into tonight."
Fresh from winning gold in the men's 200m backstroke on Wednesday night, John Shortt was back in action in the first of the seeded heats in the 100m equivalent on Thursday morning and finished second in 50.84 - just outside his Irish Junior Record of 50.78 - to qualify for the semis as 11th fastest overall.
"This morning was really just about kind of getting back into it and coming down off that really big high from last night," he said.
"But you know I've got a really good group of people around me, just keeping me centred, and to make sure that I remain focused on the fact that we still have another four days of racing, and so all this morning was all just getting in and making sure I'm doing my skills right and then the big effort will come tonight and tomorrow evening."
The semi-final heats will take place at 7.01pm this evening.
In the men's 200 breaststroke, Eoin Corby also qualified for the semis after finishing seventh in his heat.
Taking part in the penultimate heat which featured seeded competitors, the Limerick swimmer's 2:06.47 was the 17th fastest time and proved just enough to squeeze through to the next round which is scheduled for 6.42pm Irish time.
"I've never seen so many 2:05s in any European heats in my life," he said. "
It's extremely fast heats. It's all about quick morning swims here, so I'm happy with that, but I think I've a lot more in me, so hopefully I can produce something a bit quicker tonight because it's incredibly close and even if I improved by a second, I'm pretty sure that puts me in third or something, so it's very stupidly quick here."
However, Jack Cassin narrowly missed out on the semi-finals of the men's 100m butterfly with his 51.49 just 0.14 outside the final qualification place. Lisburn swimmer Matthew Hamilton also did not advance after a third-placed finish in his heat in 52.60.
Later on Thursday, Paris 2024 Olympic gold medalist Daniel Wiffen will be in final action in the men's 1500m freestyle, while Evan Bailey will contest the 200m final.
