Advertisement
Shane Ryan at the European Aquatics Championships earlier this year. Andrea Masini/INPHO

Ryan advances to 50m backstroke final as Walshe breaks sixth Irish record

Meanwhile, Danielle Hill narrowly missed out on breaking her own Irish record in the 50m backstroke.

IRELAND’S SHANE RYAN has earned his spot in the final of the men’s 50m backstroke at the World Swimming Championships in Budapest.

Ryan improved on his time from Thursday morning’s heats to reach Friday’s final, which is his first final at the competition since the 2018 World Championships. After leading for much of his semi-final, he took fourth in a time of 22.89 to progress in eighth overall.

His time was just .13 of a second off his Irish record of 22.76 which he set in that last World Final in 2018, where he won a bronze medal.

“I’m good, but annoyed,” he said after his race. “No look I didn’t get any sleep during the day, and if you don’t get any sleep, you’ve just got to chill out the best you can and take your mind away from it, but I get very excited about racing.

“But look I came in, shoulder felt a bit better, but again it’s just lack of racing this year and I think if I do a bit more racing, I got faster there which was good, so it’s just cleaning it up again, that’s it, going out, having fun, racing the other boys, because it was fast!”

Ellen Walshe broke her sixth Irish record in three days of racing, taking .3 of a second off her time in the 100m individual medley. She touched the wall in 58.55 to finish fourth in her semi-final and ninth overall to just miss out on a place in the final.

“I was in the middle lanes with the fastest girls and it’s a great race to be part of and I can see myself in the mix, but yeah it’s not a main event for me and I think sprint is very different from what I’m used to, so I’m happy enough with the swim,” she said.

Danielle Hill was just one hundredth of a second off her Irish record in the women’s 50m backstroke semi-final as she clocked 26.34 to climb up from 13th in the world rankings to eleventh. 

Speaking after her race, the Larne swimmer said:

“I’m happy that I done what I wanted to from heats to semi’s and fixed what I wanted to fix, 50s are so hard because you’ve got to get everything right, the littlest of errors and it will go against you so yeah listen, I fixed what I wanted to fix is the best way to put it.”

Hill returns to the pool on Saturday for the 50m Freestyle.

Joining Ryan and Walshe in action on Friday, National Centre Limerick’s Ellie McCartney and Eoin Corby will compete in the 200m Breaststroke. McCartney is making her World Championships debut for Ireland, while Max McCusker returns for the 100m Butterfly heats.

Day 4 Heats Schedule – Friday 13th December

Female 200m Breaststroke – Ellie McCartney
Male 200m Breaststroke – Eoin Corby
Female 100m Butterfly – Ellen Walshe
Male 100m Butterfly – Max McCusker
Male 50m Backstroke Final – Shane Ryan

Close
3 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

    Leave a commentcancel

     
    JournalTv
    News in 60 seconds