Walshe, Bailey and Shortt break records at Irish Open Swimming Championships

Saturday evening will see female and open multi-class (para) finals and female and open semi-finals in the 100m Backstroke, female 200m Individual semi-finals, Male 200m Freestyle semi-finals and Female 200m Butterfly semi-finals.

IRISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS: Ellen Walshe, competing in the 200m Individual Medley and 200m Butterfly, clocked Championship Records in both events of 2:11.14 and 2:08.66. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Ellen Walshe, Evan Bailey, and John Shortt got the 2025 Irish Open Swimming Championships underway in Dublin on Saturday morning with records falling on four occasions including three Championship and an Irish Junior record, while eight swimmers secured consideration times for international events this Summer.

Walshe, competing in the 200m Individual Medley and 200m Butterfly, clocked Championship Records in both events of 2:11.14 and 2:08.66. The Paris Finalists time in the 200m IM solidified her qualification for the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore in July and was just outside her Irish record of 2:10.92. In the 200m Butterfly, Walshe clocked another new Championship Record and a World Aquatics A time, her second fastest time ever in the event, having set the current Irish Record of 2:08.42 just last month. The Templeogue swimmer is currently ranked seventh in the world in both events.