John Shortt claims 50m backstroke bronze at World Junior Championships

There was a dead heat for gold in the final. 

John Shortt has added 50m backstroke bronze to the 100m backstroke gold he won on Wednesday. Pic: Ian MacNicol/Sportsfile

John Shortt claimed bronze for Ireland in the 50m backstroke at the World Junior Aquatics Championships in Romania on Friday.

The 18-year-old from Galway had already won gold in the 100m backstroke on Wednesday.

There was a dead heat for gold in the one-length race with Italian Daniele Del Signore and Georgii Iakovlev, competing under a neutral flag, both touching the wall in 24.91. Shortt, swimming from lane one, was 0.15 further back. His 25.06 swim broke the personal best of 25.36 he had set in the semi-final. 

The gold medallists entered the final as the fastest qualifiers from the semi-finals while Shortt had qualified in seventh. Iakovlev finished second behind Shortt in the 100m final while Del Signore had finished fifth. 

"It feels pretty good, not unexpected, we knew we could do it tonight and I’ve got to shout out Roisin (physio) who got me right after the 100m back final so a big shout out to her, and you know when you’ve got a lane, you’ve got a chance and that’s exactly what happened tonight," said Shortt.

"I thought my start wasn’t great, as in my actual start, I kind of felt like I, not slipped, but my feet kind of went down just a small bit when I pushed off, but, my first 25m was pretty good and I’d no idea what was going on around me so I just starting pulling like a dog and you know that was it, I touched the wall and got a medal, so happy out."

Shortt will be back in the pool on Sunday morning, for his favoured race, the 200m backstroke. There is no semi-final in the event. The top eight swimmers from the heats qualify for the final later in the day. 

𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗟𝗗 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗠𝗣𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗣 𝗕𝗥𝗢𝗡𝗭𝗘 for John Shortt and Ireland!

John Shortt strikes bronze in the 50m Backstroke World Junior Final out in lane 1 💨

The Galway man clocked 25.06 to win his second World Junior Championship medal of the week 🥉

There was a… pic.twitter.com/0FxxIMEdVW

— Swim Ireland (@swimireland) August 22, 2025