Mona McSharry returned to the podium in Paris on Friday night, adding a bronze medal to the silver she claimed earlier in the week. Meanwhile, 400m Individual Medley champion Ellen Walshe secured her place in a second final of the Championships, progressing through the 200m Individual Medley semi-finals. She will join Daniel Wiffen in action on Saturday evening as Ireland looks to continue its strong run of performances in the French capital.
Ellie McCartney faced a demanding double programme, contesting both a breaststroke final and an individual medley semi-final, while Grace Davison, Danielle Hill and Jack Cassin saw their campaigns come to an end in their respective semi-finals.
It was double delight for McSharry as she climbed the podium once again, this time in the 200m Breaststroke, adding to the 100m Breaststroke silver medal she won on Wednesday.
The Olympic bronze medallist found herself in fourth place with 50 metres remaining before producing a strong finish to overtake the Netherlands’ Tes Schouten and secure bronze in 2:22.23, just ahead of Schouten’s 2:22.67.
World record holder Evgeniia Chikunova claimed gold in a Championship record time of 2:19.32, while Great Britain’s Angharad Evans took silver in 2:21.21.
A delighted McSharry spoke after the race ‘Again, like the last one, I think it hasn’t hit yet, I just finished the race, and I was like, all right, job done. But, you know, we’re moving through the process here, and yeah, I’m happy to be back on the podium.’
She added ‘I was definitely burning up on the last fifty, I could see, obviously, Evans beside me, couldn’t see anything else, so I had to hang on for dear life here, I’m glad that I was on the right side of the tight finish.’
After receiving her medal, she said ‘It was great, I was trying to soak it in as much as possible, because I feel like I’ve had times in the past where you maybe don’t take it all in, so it’s looking into the crowd, seeing all the Irish flags, looking at our team, it was great.’
On standing on the podium again two years after the Paris Olympic Games, she reflected ‘I mean, I think Paris is a good city for me, I might just move here! I think it feels almost different because we’re not in the same pool or accommodation, but it does have the same kind of feel to it and I do remember back to Paris and having my family here to support really made it feel a lot similar, it’s been great.’ McSharry returns to action on Saturday morning in the heats of the 50m Breaststroke.
Also competing in the 200m Breaststroke final, Ellie McCartney placed eighth in 2:26.96. The National Centre Limerick swimmer was back in the pool just 45 minutes later for the 200m Individual Medley semi-finals, where she improved on her morning swim of 2:13.95 to clock 2:13.85, finishing sixth in her semi-final and twelfth overall.
McCartney said ‘It’s a great atmosphere over here, there are so many Irish fans, it’s great that RTE are covering it, so people can watch from home. It’s been great, and to make that final, alongside Mona and her getting her medal, I’m so happy for her.’
On tonight’s schedule she added ‘‘I had to take a one race at a time, so the 200m breast wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but putting that to the back of my mind, getting straight into the swim down, getting ready for the 200 IM and just have a go at it again, and to improve on this morning, where I was fresh, I wasn’t straight out of a 200m breast, I’m really happy with. I’m excited for next season now.’
Competing alongside McCartney in the 200m Individual Medley semi-finals, Walshe secured her second final of the Championships, touching third in her race and advancing seventh overall in 2:11.26. Great Britain’s Abbie Wood heads into the final as the fastest qualifier with a time of 2:09.99.
Walshe said ‘I think it was just nice to build through the rounds, I was probably out a little bit slow, but we can hopefully work on that tomorrow. To get back (to the final), it’s obviously the positive, but just have still have the 400 IM probably in my legs, I think we can build on that.’
Before contesting the 200m Individual Medley final, Walshe will also begin her 200m Butterfly campaign on Saturday morning, with the semi-finals scheduled for Saturday evening following the IM final.
Grace Davison and Danielle Hill were both in action in the 100m Backstroke semi-finals. Davison, racing in the first semi-final, recorded 1:01.56, while Hill clocked 1:01.67 in the second semi-final. Both swimmers finished eighth in their respective races.
Davison said ‘I’m not stoked with the time, but I’m super happy to be in that semi-final amongst such an incredible field, in that arena, with that noise, is just unmatched, it’s unbelievable. So, I mean, I went out a little slow, but back really good, so it’s just weighing it up and improving that for next year.’
Hill added ‘I think it’s just one step too far, me and Peter can sit back and say that we haven’t done enough work, I know what it took to go 59.1 back when I tried to qualify for Paris (2024) and I haven’t done nearly enough of that, for no fault of my own (shoulder injury) but we know that there’s a lot more work to be done.’
She continued ‘It’s confidence every time I step in the water, it’s not only confidence that the shoulder is more than capable now, it’s fit and it’s healthy, but my own confidence, I haven’t raced enough, so coming here, I’m putting those swims in back-to-back, and working with the team has been absolutely incredible, it’s lots of learning. Now I look forward to putting the head back down and doing that big block of work.’
In the 200m Butterfly semi-final, Jack Cassin improved on his morning swim of 1:57.79 to post 1:57.66.
The Irish swimmer enjoyed a memorable experience racing alongside Olympic champion and hometown favourite Leon Marchand in front of a packed French crowd.
Cassin said ‘Overall, I’m definitely quite pleased. It’s not really the time that I’ve been hoping for and worked for this season, but, I mean, it doesn’t always go your way, and I’m still kind of happy to have gotten that experience. There’s a French crowd there, so they kind of lit up the arena, it was so loud for Leon, and I tried to just feed off that energy, so I definitely enjoyed the race.’
On Saturday, Tom Fannon will make his long-awaited European Aquatics Championships debut in Paris, lining up in the 50m Freestyle. The Olympic semi-finalist arrives in top form, having lowered his own Irish record to 21.58 last month, and will be joined in the heats by Irish junior record holder Matthew Hamilton.
Elsewhere, 200m Backstroke finalist John Shortt returns to the pool for the 100m Backstroke, Jack Cassin is back in action in the 200m Individual Medley alongside Jacob Armon and Liam Custer while Alana Burns-Atkin goes in the 200m Butterfly.