Cork Swimming: Irish rising stars shone at European Short Course Championships 

THE National Aquatic Centre opened its doors 20 years ago.

To mark the occasion, LEN (the European governing body for swimming) held the European Short Course Championships.

On the weekend of August 11-13, they returned to The Sport Ireland Campus, for the inaugural LEN U23 Championships, to mark its 20th anniversary. The event was run over three days of fast and furious racing, with some non-traditional events including, 50m Freestyle Skins finals. There were also some changes to the presentations, medal ceremonies and post-race interviews, which added to the dynamic environment.

A strong Irish team relished the opportunity to play host to 39 European federations plus three invites, USA, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The competition got off to a perfect start with four athletes qualified for five finals on the first evening.

Mona McSharry entered the history books, in what was a poetic start to the championships when she delivered an electrifying performance in the first final of the meet, 50m breaststroke. McSharry had just returned from World Championships in Japan, where she secured the Olympic ‘A’ standard and continued that excellent form with a 30.37 to edge out Italy’s Anita Bottazzo who placed second on 30.59.

Ellen Walshe was next in action for the Irish. She battled for the European title at 100m butterfly with GB’s Keanna Macinnes, who is a 200m specialist. A strong finish from Macinnes gave her the title on 58.48 with Walshe marginally behind, for silver, with 58.70. Walshe returned to the start blocks later in the session, and on that occasion, she led from the start of the 200m IM final. 

The Irish crowd roared Walshe down the final leg as she battled it out with USA’s Justina Kozan, but Kozan passed her with 10m to go, and claimed commemorative gold on 2:12.98 with Walshe the European champion on 2:13.12. Walshe swam to Olympic ’A’ standard in this event at the recent World Championships.

DOMINANT

Daniel Wiffen rounded out the evening’s individual action with a dominant display in the Men’s 1,500m freestyle 14:35.79 but it was a much-improved swim on this World Championship outing where he finished 4th in a World class field. Mona McSharry was first to take to the start blocks on day 2 when she had a mammoth battle with USA’s Kaitlyn Dobler. Spurred on by the roaring home crowd, McSharry touched first, 1:06.69 to claim her second European Title by the narrowest of margins, Dobler on 1:06.70. McSharry hit the hat-trick on the final evening when she added the 200m title.

Another highlight of day 2 saw Ellen Wlashe and USA’s Justina Kozan renew their rivalry in the 400m IM. Walshe had a strong midsection, but a powerful freestyle leg from the American saw her touch first and claim commemorative gold, 4:40.97 with Walshe the first European and claimed her third medal of the meet, and second European title.

McSharry walked out to a tumultuous roar from the home crowd on the final evening for the 200m breaststroke final. She led from the start with a powerful first 100m, turning on 1:09.35 and brought it home on 2:25.49, just outside her own National Record. GB’s Elizabeth Booker placed second on 2:26.37 with the Croatian National Record holder in 3rd on 2:26.37. This is McSharry’s final year at U23 and she brought the curtain down with a hat-trick of European breaststroke titles and placed 4th overall in the Best Performers of the meet.

The World Junior record holder, Petar Mitsin, Bulgaria broke the hearts of the home crowd when he claimed the 400m freestyle title, 3:46.16 ahead of local favourite Daniel Wiffen 3:47.57.

On the final evening, local favourite and European Record holder, Daniel Wiffen, had to settle for silver in the 800m freestyle. Sven Schwarz powered to victory with a two-second lifetime best 7:41.77. Wiffen finished on 7:45.59 and the Italian, Luca De Tullio completed the podium on 7:48.20. Wiffen closed out his tournament with Gold at 1,500m and silver in both the 800m & 400m freestyle. 

He was rewarded with Top Performer of the Meet. Ellen Walshe returned to the pool for the 50m butterfly final. She had qualified in 8th place but an impressive swim from the outside lane, saw her improve her ranking to 4th overall. Her time of 26.64 was a personal best and she missed out on a bronze medal by 0.38 seconds.