Team Ireland’s swimmers opened the 2026 European Aquatics Championships in Paris on Monday morning with two new Irish Records from Jack Kelly and Liam Custer, alongside semi-final progressions for Kelly and Lottie Cullen.
Kelly, making his Ireland debut, was impressive as he set a new 100m Breaststroke Irish Record of 59.27, obliterating his previous best of 59.72 and Darragh Greene’s 2021 record of 59.76. The 23-year-old won his heat and advances to the semi-final as the fourth fastest qualifier.
A delighted Kelly said ‘Amazing. That race showed all the work I have put into the sport this year, so it is great to see the benefits of all the hard work I have been doing in Texas. I am really happy with how I started the meet and excited to keep the ball rolling. I knew I definitely had it (59.27), but to see it in prelims was exciting, so I am pretty stoked to see how I swim tonight.’
Also competing in the 100m Breaststroke, Darragh Greene swam a season’s best 1:00.51, Eoin Corby clocked 1:01.19 and Adam Bradley touched in 1:01.94.
Lottie Cullen impressed as she secured her place in the semi-final of the 200m Backstroke. The National Centre Ulster swimmer had a busy lead in to the Championships with ten swims at the Commonwealth Games. She clocked 2:12.84, finishing fifth in her heat and progressing fifteenth overall.
Speaking after the race, Cullen said ‘I am really happy with that. It was close and the time I put up was pretty good. There is definitely still room for improvement, and I have been that time a couple of times now, so I am hoping to move forward this evening.’
On competing two weeks after the Commonwealth Games, she added ‘We had about a week at home, so we were trying to recover while also getting some work in, including speed and endurance, to turn things around and ride the taper through this week.’
Liam Custer got the Championships underway for Ireland this morning with a new Irish Senior Record in the 400m Individual Medley. The 21-year-old won the opening heat in 4:22.55, breaking Jack Cassin’s 2023 record of 4:22.57 by two hundredths of a second.
Grace Davison led a quartet of swimmers in the 100m Freestyle Heats. The Irish Record holder (54.45) touched in 54.72, just .18 of a second outside of the semi-final places. Ireland was well represented in heat two of the event where Rosalie Phelan, Victoria Catterson and Danielle Farrell occupied the centre lanes and finished in the top three spots. Phelan was the first of the three, swimming a personal best of 55.69, Catterson clocked a season best 55.80, while Farrell, making her Ireland debut, broke fifty-six seconds for the first time, swimming a best of 55.96.
In the 50m Butterfly, 18-year-old Matthew Hamilton was home in 24.50, just outside the 24.17 Irish Junior Record he swam at the Sette Colli Meet in Italy in June.
The final event of the opening session saw Evan Bailey, John Shortt, Cormac Rynn and Daniel Wiffen combine for the 4x200m Freestyle Relay. The quartet were sixth in their heat and placed eleventh overall in 7:12.99.