Ellie McCartney made it a full set of medals with a sensational silver in the 200m Breaststroke at the European U23 Championships, while Mona McSharry claimed a second silver.
In Samorin, Slovakia, McCartney added the Breaststroke silver to gold in the 200m Individual Medley and bronze in the 100m Breaststroke on the final day of racing.
A controlled race from the National Centre Limerick swimmer saw her 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 just not enough time to catch 2024 European silver medallist in the event Rybek-Anderson who got the touch ahead of McCartney in 2:23.89, just .13 ahead of a personal best from the Enniskillen woman in 2:24.02. Teterekova settled for third in 2:24.86.
Speaking after the race McCartney said ‘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. 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.’
For McSharry, it was a second silver medal, having won the first in the 100m Breaststroke on Thursday, she clocked 2:25.05 for her second, this time in the 200m Breaststroke.
Attention for McCartney & McSharry now turns to the World Aquatics Championships starting on the 27th of July in Singapore.
Interim Swim Ireland Performance Director Andy Reid spoke after this evening’s finals ‘Solid performances across both the European Aquatics U23 Championships and Setti Colli meets, with our athletes bringing home nine medals and reaching thirteen more finals. For those using these meets as a stepping stone toward the World Aquatics Championships or World University Games, it’s a strong indicator that preparations are on track and they are moving in the right direction.’