Grace Davison & John Shortt brought the curtain down on the 2025 European Aquatics Championships in spectacular fashion with gold and bronze medal wins on the final night of racing in Samorin, Slovakia.
It took less than ten minutes for Ireland to claim two medals as the final night of the Championships got underway, bringing Ireland’s medal tally up to four, one gold (Shortt) and three bronze (one for Shortt, two for Davison).
Grace Davison showed her class once again, winning the bronze medal in the 200m Individual Medley in a personal best time of 2:14.05, her second bronze in two days having won in the 100m Freestyle on Saturday night. The Paris Olympian had a fight on her hands and showed her steel throughout the race. As Davison and her competitors headed into the freestyle leg, Davison showed the fight to get her hand on the wall first and light up the blocks, winning her third European Junior bronze by 0.14 of a second.
After the race, the Ards swimmer said: “I’m ecstatic, I’m very glad it’s all over, I’ve had a lot of racing this week. Going through the heats, semis and finals isn’t something that I was really used to, but we’ve had to do a lot more of it with Olympic Trials last year, the Irish Open this year, I’m definitely getting used to it but it is hard work, last night took it out of me., third tonight, I’m over the moon.”
On winning bronze in a tightly contested race, she added: “It was pure grit and determination, I know how it feels from winning a medal last year, it feels so much better this year, especially to walk away with two individually. For Ireland to come away with four is unbelievable, for people back home, even the younger ones will definitely look up to that. For Ireland to be consistently on the medal table, and high up at all levels is amazing.”
On the support, she said: “It’s unreal, you probably don’t see much of it on the livestream, the guys are all here from every semi-final, every final, some even the heats. To walk out and hear all of them is unbelievable, we have been one of the loudest. To have so many parents here is great, my parents and sister are here, they’ve never all watched me swim at something like this, I really feel the support from here and back home.”
Davison now sets her sights on the World Junior Championships.
On the conclusion of the championships, interim Swim Ireland Performance Director, Andrew Reid said: “What a finish to an unforgettable European Aquatics Junior Championships. John showed incredible resilience tonight to win the 100m Backstroke after a tough bronze in the 200m Back on Friday night and Grace dug deep in the 200m IM to add another win bronze to her medal collection. Across the meet our team delivered four podium finishes (1 gold three bronze), one top eight finish, four top sixteen finishes, two new Irish records (1 senior, 1 junior) and eleven personal best swims. From our seasoned veterans to the rising stars making their national team debut, every athlete stepped up, representing Ireland with pride, passion, and determination. Well done athletes, team staff and home programme coaches for all your hard work.”