2 days ago
McCartney completes set of medals at European U23 championships
ELLIE MCCARTNEY HAS won a silver medal in the 200m Breaststroke at the European U23 Championships to go with the gold and bronze she won earlier in Slovakia.
McCartney completed the set in a time of 2:24.02 to compliment her gold in the 200m Individual Medley and bronze in the 100m Breaststroke.
The National Centre Limerick swimmer was third after 100m behind Denmark's Clara Rybek-Anderson and Lithuania's Kotryna Teterekova, before mounting her come back, out splitting both swimmers ahead of her in the second 100 metres. But it wasn't enough time to catch 2024 European silver medallist in the event Rybek-Anderson, who got the touch ahead of McCartney in 2:23.89. Teterekova took third in 2:24.86.
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'I'm happy with how the past few days have panned out, in the general scale of things this is only one step forward to the World Championships in Singapore,' McCartney said after the race.
'Its bittersweet being so close to getting gold again, but to get a pb, I know I put my best foot forward and my best performance out there, and to walk away a European U23 Champion is more than I could have dreamed of. I've achieved my goals that I wanted to while I was here and anything else was a bonus, so I'm walking away with my head held high.'
Meanwhile at the Sette Colli International in Rome, Ellen Walshe doubled up with a silver and bronze medal on the last night of racing. After winning gold in the 400m Individual Medley on Friday, the Templeogue swimmer added silver in the 200m Butterfly in 2:09.59 and bronze in the 200m Individual Medley in 2:11.80 to her haul.
McSharry won a second silver medal as she clocked 2:25.05 to take second in the final of the 200m Breaststroke. She won her first silver medal in the 100m Breaststroke on Thursday.
Next up for Irish swimmers is the European Junior Championships, taking place in Samorin, Slovakia, which is the same venue as the European U23 Championships.
The competition will run from Tuesday 1 July to Sunday 6 July, with sixteen Irish swimmers selected.
The team include 2024 European Junior Champion in the 200m Backstroke and Silver medallist in the 100m Backstroke, John Shortt, and bronze medallist in the 100m Freestyle from the last edition Paris 2024 Olympian, Grace Davison. Shortt is also qualified for the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
