'I don't quite do that to my full potential': Walshe keen to match competition level to training standard

Everything, Ellen Walshe believes, will come down to how she approaches her races in her mind.

Swimmer Ellen Walshe: 'I feel like I train to a level that I don't quite race at. It'd be nice to put it all together at the same moment.' Pic: Ben McShane/Sportsfile

Disappointment often lingers longer than success for elite athletes. It's part of the deal when you mix it at sport's top end.

So it proved for Ellen Walshe last December, when she won her first senior international gold medal at the European Short Course Championships. 

She returned home thinking about her seventh place finish in the 400m individual medley final, rather than that breakthrough 200m butterfly triumph.

"It probably knocked my confidence," the Dubliner said. "I had just won gold, but I think I only saw the disaster of the 400. That's all I probably still think about."

Walshe, a two-time Olympian, is reflecting on the events of the past year and how they will factor into her performance in next week's European Aquatics Championships in Paris, where she will compete in the 50m, 100m and 200m butterfly, the 200m and 400m individual medleys - and probably some relays to boot.

Everything, she believes, will come down to how she approaches her races in her mind.

"It's just the biggest mental game you'll play," the 24-year-old reflected. "You've done the hard work. It was done a week ago, two weeks ago. It's purely just down to whose mindset is going to be right on the day.

"I enjoy the training side a lot more than I used to as a junior athlete. I just enjoy pushing myself to the limit.

"I don't quite do that to my full potential in competition just yet. I feel like I train to a level that I don't quite race at. It'd be nice to put it all together at the same moment."

Winning three medals - gold in the 200m butterfly and silver in both the 200m and 400m IMs - at the Sette Colli Trophy in Rome last month helped restore her confidence after her coach encouraged her to tackle the double again.

"It was nice to get back on the blocks," Walshe said. "Hopefully carrying that confidence - 'doing the double, will it be okay at Europeans? Can I do this anymore, is it still possible?'.

"It's probably always in the back of your mind."

Lowering Melanie Nocher's long-standing Irish 200m backstroke record twice in one day last month, clocking 2:09.69 at the Irish Open, was also a boost ahead of the Europeans.

"I've worked for the past number of years on my backstroke for the IM," she reflected. "To see it all come together in that particular moment meant a lot to me and my coach.

"It's probably been the weakest stroke in the 400 IM, so hopefully carrying that work into Paris and seeing that 2:09 will help me.

"I'm in good form. I'm hopeful that I've done the best work I've done this year. I've had a long season and I'm just looking forward to laying it all out there and enjoying the meet."

Away from the intensity of elite competition, Walshe remains firmly rooted at her local pool, where she loves to train and where she teaches four- and five-year-olds to swim.

"They're great fun," she said with a smile. "Most of them have no idea who I am.

"There's a picture of me outside the pool and they'll ask, 'Is that you?' I'd have my hair up in a bun and I don't really look like the photo anymore. I'm a few years older now too.

"Eventually they figure it out. Hopefully in 10 or 15 years they'll be able to say I taught them to swim, and hopefully they'll have nice things to say about me."

For now, though, her attention is fixed on Paris, where the championships begin on Monday in Saint-Denis, rather than at the spectacular La Défense Arena that hosted swimming during the Paris Olympics.

"That feels like ancient history at this stage," Walshe said. "Obviously I became a double Olympian there, so it'll always hold a special place. But we're there to compete, so you don't really see much of Paris.

"It's nice that it's close to home. We were over there earlier this year, it's a nice venue. They've got a great set-up, so hopefully it'll be good.

"Next year is probably the big year. That's our first opportunity to put a qualifying time on the board at Worlds in Budapest.

"This summer there's no pressure of a qualifying time. It's purely rankings, trying to be the best you can.

"We need to use that positively. Just race your heart out and see where you're at."