Dec 14,2024
Ireland's triple Olympic swimmer Shane Ryan has won a bronze medal in the men's 50 metres backstroke at the World Aquatics Short Course Championships in Budapest, repeating the bronze he won back in 2018.
Starting out in lane eight, the 30-year-old turned second at the 25-metre mark and held on to take a brilliant bronze medal in 22.56 seconds, setting a new Irish record by .2 of a second which is huge in a 50 metre event.
A delighted Ryan spoke after the race: "I love the outside lane, outside smoke, you have a clean lane next to you, I think it's like because I’m a bit older, I know just what to do and each swim, I need to be better and I cleaned it up right and it worked out, I couldn’t believe it.
"Look I came in, I knew I wanted to make top eight, and then it was just going out and having fun and racing the guys and that’s what I did tonight and came out third which is great and a PB."
After receiving his medal, thoughts then turned to his next event - the 50m freestyle : "I'm good, it’s nice to see the tricolour flag being raised again, now I need to get ready for that 50m free tomorrow."
Templeogue's Ellen Walshe, who has already set seven new Irish records this week, set an eighth new standard in the fastest-ever 100m butterfly race in history. Walshe took over half a second off the record of 56.17 she had set on Friday morning, going under 56 seconds for the first time in 55.50 seconds.
The USA's Gretchen Walsh set a new world record in the semis, her second of the day, while Walshe went through to tomorrow's final in third place overall.
The Templeogue swimmer took over half a second off the record of 56.17 she had set on Friday morning, going under 56 seconds for the first time in 55.50 seconds.
That final is off the blocks at 4.30pm Irish time tomorrow. Before that Walshe is back in the pool on Saturday morning for the 400m individual medley heats.
Earlier, Eoin Corby set his first Irish record in the heats of the 200m breaststroke, touching the wall in 2:06.45 to erase Uiseann Cooke's 2021 record of 2:06.81. The 22-year-old was sixth in his heat, but failed to progress to the semi-finals.
Other Irish interest sees Jack Cassin compete in the 400m individual medley, Danielle Hill returns for the 50m freestyle with Tom Fannon joining Ryan in the 50m freestyle heats.
Eoin Corby and Niamh Coyne are back on the blocks for the heats of the 50m breaststroke while Nathan Wiffen competes in the 800m freestyle but will have to wait until the evening session for the fastest heat.
