Ellie McCartney took her place amongst the World’s best with a seventh-place finish in the 200m Breaststroke Final while Tom Fannon came agonisingly close to making the 50m Freestyle Final at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore on Friday.
McCartney, who swam a lifetime best 2:23.79 in Thursday’s Semi-Final of the 200m Breaststroke, clocked 2:25.22, matching her heat swim and fifth fastest time ever, to close out her first World Championships (LC). The 20-year-old, who swims at National Centre Limerick, came into the meet ranked eighteenth and will take huge confidence from making the final on her debut.
The Enniskillen woman spoke after the race ‘It’s an incredible experience, you know, I don’t have high expectations coming into the final, at the start of this year all I wanted to do is qualify for the world champs, so, constantly this year, as the season progressed, we had to keep on moving that target, and I never thought it would be a final, but we’ re here now, I have now swum a world long course final, it’s something not many people have done.’
She added ‘I mean tonight’s swim may not have been the fastest I’ve ever been, but I came into this meet seeded eighteenth and I finished seventh, so, progression is what it is, and just moving forward through each of the rounds and, you know, I’ll take a learning from this time and hopefully apply it to future competitions.’
On Saturday, the penultimate day of racing in Singapore, 50m Backstroke Semi-Finalist Danielle Hill returns for the 50m Freestyle and 100m Breaststroke semi-finalist Mona McSharry is back for the 50m Breaststroke.