Ellen Walshe claimed her second gold medal of the European Aquatics Championships in Paris on Saturday night, producing another superb performance to add the 200m Individual Medley title to the 400m Individual Medley crown she won earlier in the week. Walshe then completed a demanding double by returning to the pool less than an hour later to qualify for Sunday’s 200m Butterfly Final.
It was another memorable evening for Team Ireland as Mona McSharry and Tom Fannon also secured places in Sunday’s finals. McSharry progressed through the 50m Breaststroke semi-finals and Fannon advanced in the 50m Freestyle. Also on Saturday, Daniel Wiffen finished eighth in the 1500m Freestyle Final, capping another busy day for the Irish team in the French capital.
Walshe delivered a championship-winning performance in the 200m Individual Medley Final, adding a second European title to her growing collection in Paris. The Templeogue star, swimming in an outside lane, produced another composed swim moving through the rankings from seventh through the butterfly, to sixth after the backstroke, turning for home Walshe was in fifth and after an incredible underwater she powered through the freestyle leg to secure gold and become a double European champion in a new Irish record of 2:09.81. The previous record had stood at 2:10.49 from the 2025 World Championships.
An hour later, after receiving her gold medal, Walshe qualified for the final of the 200m Butterfly. Despite the quick turnaround, she showed no signs of fatigue as she qualified in 2:08.57 to progress as the fifth-fastest qualifier for Sunday’s 17.47 final.
A delighted Walshe reflected on the race after an eventful evening ‘I think the middle lanes personally for me can be quite distracting because I’m like she’s there and she’s there, I knew diving in I was going to have to do my own thing here because you can’t see anyone and they can’t see you. I knew coming off that last wall I was going to have to do at least 14 metres underwater and try to get myself back up and just go for it. I just stuck to my own race plan, stayed really calm on the breaststroke, which sometimes I do tend to rush it and add a number of strokes, and just feel it under pressure, it all worked out tonight.’
‘When you turn to look at people, it is that millisecond that could be on the wall and that was exactly second, third, and fourth all down the line tonight. I tried to stay super focused and calm on the breaststroke and then on the freestyle, I was like, I don’t know where anyone is, I can’t see them, until a little bit at the end I saw it was head-to-head with a couple of the girls on the line.’
On the podium she added ‘I enjoyed it, I think the 400 (IM), the stadium was very quiet as it was one of the last events and tonight it was a completely full stadium for that medal presentation, and it was super special. Everyone stood up for the anthem, I did really enjoy it, I probably enjoyed it more than the 400 IM.’
Qualifying for the 200m Butterfly Final she said ‘It was special, it was a runoff the podium and straight into the call room to try and find my hat and goggles, which I couldn’t find anywhere, but that’s just racing under pressure and sometimes that works because you haven’t got time to think about it, just get up and go. I’m delighted to be into the final tomorrow, hopefully I recover well and I’m able to put a solid someone on the board tomorrow, it’s going to hurt.’
Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen was back in European Championship action on Saturday evening, contesting the 1500m Freestyle Final. In a race where a new World Record was set, the Armagh swimmer finished eighth in 15:06.30.
Gold went to Germany’s Johannes Liebmann, who delivered a world record performance of 14:25.79. The 18-year-old eclipsed the previous mark of 14:30.67 set by American Bobby Finke at the Paris Olympic Games, a race in which Daniel Wiffen claimed bronze.
Wiffen spoke after the race ‘I’m dead to be honest, but it was great race, I’m happy to be in that race to see that world record fall again. I was in it in the Olympics when I got bronze, and to see that mark drop again was pretty impressive. And, not so much about my swim, I’m not very happy about it, but we put together another race, obviously the time wasn’t great, but I’m happy that I’m still in these finals, getting back to where I was, and, that’s what next season’s going to be about.’
Tom Fannon booked his place in Sunday’s 50m Freestyle Final with an outstanding performance in the second semi-final. The Olympic semi-finalist produced the second-fastest swim of his career, clocking 21.65, just seven hundredths of a second outside the Irish record of 21.58 that he set last month. Competing in the faster of the two semi-finals, Fannon finished among a group of six swimmers who advanced from the race, with only two qualifiers coming from the opening semi-final.
Fannon said ‘It’s faster than the Olympics in 2024. It’s great to see if the 50m freestyle come along, especially in recent years, you can probably thank Cam (McEvoy) for that. It’s good and bad because obviously for me, I’d rather not go much faster than this, all joking aside, it’s fantastic, it’s nice to be a part of it.’
‘There was a bit of a scrap towards the end, I was fighting. I could see I was in a good position, but you can never let the nail go, or whatever the quote is, I got my hand on the wall, that’s what matters.’
The 50m Freestyle final takes place on Sunday at 17.30.
Mona McSharry continued her outstanding Championships by securing a place in Sunday’s 50m Breaststroke Final. The double European medallist, who has already claimed silver in the 100m Breaststroke and bronze in the 200m Breaststroke in Paris, produced another assured swim to progress from the semi-finals. McSharry touched in 30.43 to qualify seventh overall.
Reflecting on her race McSharry said ‘It was okay, obviously a little bit slower, which was not the plan, I was hoping I could go faster than this morning, but we have another shot tomorrow and we’re back in the final. So, I just have to be happy with that and not dwell on that race and just focus on how to make it better.
Before her race McSharry had the opportunity to watch Walshe from the call room, she said ‘It was great, thankfully, we had the TV in the call room, so I was watching and oh, I just buzzing for her, I mean, that’s absolutely amazing, again the underwater off that last turn is just unbelievable, it’s so great.’
McSharry will race the 50m Breaststroke final at 17.35.
On Sunday, the final day of racing in Paris, Nathan Wiffen Denis O’Brien and Cormac Rynn contest the heats of the 400m Freestyle, while Ireland will have teams entered in both the men’s and women’s 4x100m Medley Relay. Lottie Cullen, Mona McSharry, Ellie McCartney and Grace Davison race the women’s heat, while John Shortt, Jack Kelly, Jack Cassin and Evan Bailey race the men’s heat.