Ireland’s relay teams closed out the final morning of competition at the European Aquatics Championships in Paris in style, with the Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay qualifying for Sunday’s final and the Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay breaking the Irish Record. Irish interest remains high heading into the final session of the Championships, with Tom Fannon competing in the 50m Freestyle Final (17:30), silver and bronze medallist Mona McSharry in the 50m Breaststroke Final (17:35), and double European champion Ellen Walshe in the 200m Butterfly Final (17:47).
The women’s quartet of Lottie Cullen (backstroke), Mona McSharry (breaststroke), Ellie McCartney (butterfly) and Grace Davison (freestyle) clocked 4:00.95 to advance seventh overall, just outside the Irish Record of 4:00.12.
Cullen led off in 1:01.25 before McSharry delivered a strong breaststroke split of 1:04.75. McCartney, stepping outside her specialist breaststroke to take on the butterfly leg, clocked 1:00.83, while Davison brought the team home in 54.12 on freestyle. The line-up will be strengthened for Sunday’s 19.02 final, with European champion Ellen Walshe set to replace McCartney on the butterfly leg. The team spoke after the race. Cullen said: ‘I’m super excited, you know, missing out on the 100 (Backstroke) final, I really want to put in a good swim this morning to help us get back. I’m really grateful to Danielle, she gave up her spot for me to swim out this morning, so wanted to do it for her as well.’
McSharry added: ‘I’m happy with that. I kind of came in going I think I can be 1:04 with a good takeover, it definitely felt a little funny again to be back up to like 100, I feel like so long ago that we did the 100 earlier this week, but I was really happy with that and hopefully I can do that or faster tonight.’
McCartney said: ‘I’m just happy to do it for the team and to come in and all of us, almost under our PB. It’s great. I just love racing and getting out there and I knew Mona had given me a good lead, so just trying to maintain that and bring it home for the team.’
Davison added: ‘I’m buzzing with that. I think it’s always hard jumping in last, because it kind of feels like it’s on you at the end, but to have such a great setup from the girls was incredible and just diving in in a heat with the French swimmers, the crowd’s insane, and just feeding off that and really going for it. We all swam really well, so proud of everyone.’
The Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay also delivered an outstanding performance, setting a new Irish Record on their way to a tenth-place finish, less than half a second outside the final places. John Shortt led off with a 53.97 backstroke split before Jack Kelly contributed 59.18 on breaststroke. Jack Cassin followed with 52.05 on butterfly, while Evan Bailey brought the team home in 48.54 on freestyle. Their combined time of 3:33.74 shaved seven hundredths of a second off the previous Irish Record of 3:33.81, set at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024, where the team finished 11th.
Shortt, who was quicker than he had been in Saturday’s 100m Backstroke heats, said: ‘I was pretty upset with myself yesterday. Just been really annoyed, but at the end of the day these things happen, and I just want to do my best for the boys here. And you know, it was nice to swim under 53.’
Kelly added: ‘Great, this is going to be a relay that’s going to be together for years to come, so to have our first one together is kind of special, in record fashion too, so, yeah, it was wonderful.’
With a combined takeover time of just 0.18 seconds Cassin said: ‘I think the goal going into it was to grab that Irish senior record and if it wasn’t for those takeovers, we wouldn’t have got it. I definitely had a much slower takeover on my first relay (Mixed 4x100m), so I thought I’d definitely risk it and see what I can get out of it.’
Bailey added: ‘It felt great to be able to anchor the relay, I never really get to do it that much. It’s an unbelievable feeling to dive in and know you have the weight of the rest of the boys on you, and it feels more like you’re wearing the tricolour and representing Ireland when you’re doing it as a team, an amazing feeling.’
The final individual heats session of the Championships saw Nathan Wiffen, Denis O’Brien and Cormac Rynn conclude their Paris campaigns in the 400m Freestyle. Wiffen was the fastest of the Irish trio in 3:53.82, with O’Brien clocking 3:56.93 and Rynn touching in 3:58.01.