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The Irish Sun
05-07-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
‘I knew I had it in me' – Irish teen star dreaming of precious memories at 2028 Olympics after missing out on Paris
JOHN SHORTT has taken to reading about someone's obsession with something 'precious' to avoid the same thing happening to him. The 18-year-old national 200m backstroke record-holder is one of Ireland's hopes to be Lord of the Rings at the LA Olympics in 2028. 3 Swimmer John Shortt poses for a portrait during an OFI Media Conference at the Olympic House on the Sport Ireland Campus in Dublin Credit: Ben McShane/Sportsfile 3 John Shortt celebrates swimming a national record in the men's 200m backstroke during day three of the Irish Open Swimming Championships Credit: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile But he had a couple of accursed years as he came up short in his quest to go the Shortt secured bronze in the final of the 200m backstroke at the European Aquatics Junior Championships in Slovakia last night in a time of 1:58.45, claiming Ireland's first medal in Samorin. And the National Centre Limerick swimmer told SunSport: 'I probably put a bit too much pressure on myself to get to Paris, because I knew I had it in me. 'I didn't enjoy training and racing as much as I should have because everything was based around this one meet, to try to get this time. Read More on Olympics 'So it was, 'Oh that training session, it wasn't Olympic standard, that race , that won't get me to the Olympics'. 'There was a lot of mental stuff and when I got to the trials , I fell apart because I couldn't handle the mental pressure I put on myself.' At those trials at the National Aquatic Centre, he swam an Irish record of 1:57.90 — just four-tenths of a second outside the Olympic qualifying time. Shortt continued: 'The time itself was quite good, it was very good, I supposed I'm referring to mentally. Most read in Other Sports 'I felt bad for my dad more than anything else. He's generally the one who brings me to competitions , staying in hotels and stuff. 'We'd never really had this level of a problem but when we got there, I just wasn't myself at all. That was a strange competition.' Olympic gold medalist Tom Daley arrives at Wimbledon But faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens and the 14 months since have seen Shortt make some tweaks. He thinks about the mental side more as he takes the straight road from juniors to seniors. He explained: 'Training is quite . . . not easy, it's so physical and you are doing 5km or 6km a session. But you can get through it. 'But once you get to a competition, it's the complete opposite. You're waiting around all day to swim a race that is less than two minutes long, some even less than 22 seconds long. 'You're waiting. None of it is physical. It's how you talk to yourself. 'I learned a massive lesson last year and have brought a lot of it into this season. Just keep it more light-hearted, not to be as serious — just having more fun.' That is where 'precious' comes in. Shortt added: 'Reading books is quite good. I'll sound like such a nerd but I've started reading Lord of the Rings. 'One of the boys recommended it. I'd seen the movies — we're all secretly nerds — and I've just started reading the books just before bed. 'I've realised, like everybody, I'm spending too much time on the phone, so a half-hour before bed, I put the phone on charge and read a few pages. 'I'm getting through it very slowly. nice to go to a place where you're reading about wizards and all sorts of stuff.' AMERICAN DREAM The quest is He said: 'It was extremely difficult, especially for my mam. It's not normal, sending your kid away that young. But I didn't do it all by myself, I was in digs, living with a few other college 'The decision to go to Limerick when I did was a no-brainer really. My old club, Bluefin in Galway — it was amazing, I loved it — but it would have been very hard to keep progressing. 'It was a small pool , a 20-metre pool. I needed to be with the top guys, it was an easy decision.' And it has paid off for the 6ft 4in backstroke specialist. The Galway man got his PB down to 1:56.61 last April at the He said: 'When I was 16 I was, 'I'm swimming really good here'. I wasn't amazing but it was good for that time. 'And then it's hard to know how do I keep moving because I feel I'm doing brilliant at the minute. But then you naturally keep improving. 'And I suppose I didn't know if this time it was possible until April 23 when we did World Championship trials and I'd gone sub-two minutes in the 200 back. 'That was kind of what kick-started that I could get to this level. We worked really hard to get to this point. There's still more improving. There's never a perfect swimmer. You can keep getting better.' That has been shown as by lowering his time last April, he smashed his Irish senior and junior record, the championship record and was under the qualification time for this month's World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. Being Lord of the Rings looks closer and closer by the day. 3 John Shortt of National Centre Limerick, Bluefin, competes in the men's 200m backstroke during day three of the Irish Open Swimming Championships Credit: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
BBC News
16-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Wiffen wins third gold but misses out on record
Daniel Wiffen's won his third gold medal of the week at the Irish Open Swimming Championships in the 1500m freestyle but missed out on a new world Olympic gold medallist predicted he would set a new world mark at the National Aquatic Centre this week. Wiffen's winning time of 14:42.71 was well outside of Bobby Finke's world record of 14:30.67 set while winning gold in Paris last summer, although was considerably closer to Florian Wellbrock's 14:38.27, the quickest time in the world this year set in Sweden on Sunday. Wiffen won by more than 32 seconds ahead of his twin brother Nathan, who finished in 15:15.57, with Limerick's Denis O'Brien coming third with a time of 15:22.18. Earlier in the championships Wiffen had set the quickest mark in the world this year in the 800m freestyle and claimed victory in the 400m times in each were enough to secure his place in all three events at the World Swimming Championships in Singapore in July where he is the defending champion in the 800m and 1500m described his week's work as "job done" and stated his aim is to "bring it into Singapore" where he is targeting three golds."Compared to the rest of the week, that's probably the best time out of them all in my book," he said of his final race. "The 1500m is always a hard event to do when you're coming back from such a long break because you need that training base to basically have that back end endurance.'Wiffen will immediately head back into training, in Belgium next week and then Flagstaff in Arizona, as he prepares for all three disciplines in Singapore, although there is one event he is looking forward to more than the others.'The 1500 is my most important race," he added.'I've won the 800 at the Olympics, Worlds and Europeans and set the world short course record. 'The 1500 has been lacking for me in terms of the big meets, I've got a bronze and I've got a world championship gold but I want to push it on.'I really want that world record, it's been my childhood dream to have that world record and I'm going to keep pushing until I get it." Irish titles for Hill, McCartney and Catterson On the final day of competition at the Irish Championships there were two more national titles for Larne's Danielle European champion won both the 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke, shorter distances which are now included in the Olympic programme for Los Angeles McCartney also rounded off her superb week with victory in the 200m clinched the consideration time for the worlds in the semi-finals, the Enniskillen swimmer recorded a time of 2:25.01, just outside of her new personal best of 2: Catterson clocked 2:00.99 to win the 200m freestyle final as she held on to beat fellow Paris Olympian Grace off taking Catterson's 200m freestyle national record on Tuesday, Ellen Walshe returned to the blocks for the final morning of heats. The Templeogue swimmer showed no sign of slowing up and clocked a time of 4:41.86 in the 400m individual medley. At the end of the championships Daniel Wiffen, Danielle Hill, Ellie McCartney, Mona McSharry, Ellen Walshe, Tom Fannon and Jack Shortt all recorded the times required for the World Swimming Championships this summer.
