European swimming championships
Men’s 200m backstroke final: John Shortt finishes 7th
Women’s 100m breaststroke final: Mona McSharry finishes 2nd
Men’s 200m breaststroke: Jack Kelly qualifies for final, Eoin Corby misses out
Women’s 50m backstroke: Danielle Hill qualifies for final
Women’s 400IM final: Ellen Walshe wins gold medal
Men’s 800m freestyle final: Daniel Wiffen finished fourth
European athletics championships
Women’s 200m semi-finals: Rhasidat Adeleke through to final after winning semi-final, Lauren Roy misses out
Women’s hammer: Nicola Tuthill finished fifth
Here is Ian O’Riordan’s report. That’s all from me, see you tomorrow for some more athletics and swimming! Some big finals with Adeleke and English in action.
Athletics:
Men’s 800m final: Mark English (9.28pm)
Women’s 200m final: Rhasidat Adeleke (9.50pm)
Swimming:
Women’s 50m backstroke final: Danielle Hill (5.36pm)
Men’s 200m breaststroke final: Jack Kelly (6.29pm)
Nicola Tuthill finishes fifth in the hammer, done herself proud.
Nicola Tuthill has thrown 70.30 in the hammer final and is in fifth, pretty good performance so far, but behind Kosonen who has thrown over 76 metres.
Adeleke on RTÉ looks delighted: “I felt good. I think it’s just having fun and enjoying the process has really brought me down to earth. I’m taking everything on my stride. I’m not allowing the pressure to consume me, I’m allowing it to fuel me.
“I haven’t raced that much this year. Getting the rounds in is important, it’s just a case of believing in it, believing who I am. Sometimes when you’re down, you forget who you are. Believing you can do this.”
Here is Adeleke’s run:
Great start by Adeleke and she does a great turn and she wins the semi-final with 22.43! Brilliant run. Adeleke is the second fastest qualifier for the final behind Amy Hunt. Wow, that will build hype for the 200m final for sure.
Adeleke is in this semi-final, needing to run under 23 seconds to have a chance of making the final. PB of 22.34, season best of 22.80. 400m usually her best event, but opting for 200m this time.
Lauren Roy is up now, in lane four. With Amy Hunt in this semi-final.
Brilliant start by Roy but fades, she hangs on fairly well though. Hunt wins in 22.37, then Bestué in 22.69, Takacs in 22.77, Roy is fourth in 23.16. She won’t make the final, but a good effort in Birmingham.
Next up we have athletics, the 200m women’s semi-finals. Adeleke and Roy are competing. Nicola Tuthill is competing in the women’s hammer final tonight also.
The first semi-final there are no Irish competing, but we’ll keep an eye out on the times for fastest loser.
Dinah Asher-Sith wins it in 22.49, Joseph is 22.68 in second. Kaddari is 22.96, Emmanouildou in fourth is over 23 seconds, so that is achievable to beat that.
Some images of Ellen Walshe winning:
Here is Michael Scully’s report.
Ellen Walshe heads for the podium, the Templeogue woman basks in her achievement and Amhrán na bhFiann plays. Great moment.
Daniel Wiffen on RTÉ: “I’m actually really happy with that, another season’s best in the 800m from the heats. I didn’t think I was even going to get in the final, the 1,500m is the focus. Go 5 seconds faster than the Commonwealth a week ago. Over the moon, I’m so happy to be back in Ireland. It’s my 13th week back in Ireland and I’ve dropped 15 seconds, so pretty happy.”
Ellen Walshe on RTÉ after gold medal: “I tried to stick with what I know, on the backstroke my legs were really hurting, on the breaststroke I thought I’m just gonna close my eyes and hope for the best. On the freestyle, it’s anyone game.
“I think it’s my first long course senior medal, to get the gold is huge and I’m looking forward to standing on the podium tonight.”
Daniel Wiffen finishes 4th!
Wiffen swims 7.43.30 in the final, as Liebmann wins with a championship record 7:37.59. Schwarz finishes well to finish second in 7:41.16, as Sarkany swims 7:41.75 for third.
Wiffen is 1.75 metres behind Schwarz at 600 metres.
100 metres to go, Liebmann is way ahead, Wiffen is still more than 2 metres behind third, seems unlikely he will get a medal.
At the halfway point, Wiffen is fourth, Liebmann leads just by Sarkany, Schwarz in third. Wiffen is clearly in fourth but a bit back from third. Wiffen is keeping in touch though, with a strong finish he could catch Schwarz at least.
No time between the events to take it in, the men’s 800m freestyle final including Daniel Wiffen is already started.
The start list:
- Carlos Garach Benito
- Dimitrios Markos
- Daniel Wiffen
- Johannes Liebmann
- Zalan Sarkany
- Sven Schwarz
- Luca de Tullio
- Kristof Rasovszky
Walshe is chasing it, now on the freestyle, it’s a great battle with Smith, well ahead of Kozan. Can she do it?
Great final 50 metres... Ellen Walsh has won the gold medal!
4:34.42 time, national record. Amalie Smith was second, Justina Kozan in third.
Walshe going well, second through 250 metres, challenging Smith for the lead!
Mona McSharry is out for the medal ceremony. She’s presented her silver medal, well done Mona!
Next up is Ellen Walsh in the women’s 400m individual medley final
- Anastasia Gorbenko
- Giada Alzetta
- Vivien Jackl
- Justina Anna Kozan
- Amalie Smith
- Alba Vazquez Ruiz
- Ellen Walshe
- Anna Pirovano
Danielle Hill makes the 50m backstroke final!
Hill just sneaks in after finishing 5th in a fast race, which was won with a stunning world record! Sara Curtis from Italy swam 26.63 to break the record. 27.85 for Hill.
Mona McSharry on RTÉ: “I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet. Pilato ahead of me pushed first, I know she goes out fast, I knew I had to go. It’s just a case of trusting the process and it came off.
“It’s a case of dissecting and figuring out what to do with my coach, in breaststroke that isn’t always swimming harder. It can be really hard in the heat of the moment if you let the nerves take over. Sometimes you think you need to go, but you have to just stick to your guns and it paid off.”
Jack Kelly qualifies for the 200m breaststroke final!
Great swim by Kelly in a fast semi-final and sets a new Irish record of 2:09.23. He led within the last 50 metres before fading to fourth but it was enough to make the final. Sadly Eoin Corby just missed out by a few tenths of a second.
Now two Irish racing in the men’s 200m breaststroke semi-finals. Eoin Corby and Jack Kelly.
It was a national record for McSharry, even faster than her 1:05.59 in the Olympics two years ago. Excellent performance. It’s her first European long course record, to add to her varied medal collection.
Good start by McSharry, and leads after 30 metres, before just falling to second after 50 behind Pilato.
Evans comes strong and it’s between those three...
Silver medal for McSharry!
Championship record for Evans to beat McSharry. Fought hard to try to get the gold, but just edged past Pilato. McSharry swam 1.05.41, Evans swimming 1.04.76. 1:05.89 for the Italian Pilato to win bronze.
Romania’s David Popovici wins a thrilling 100m freestyle final as Mona McSharry is out next.
Here is the start list for the women’s 100m breaststroke final:
- Tes Schouten
- Anna Elendt
- Eneli Jefimova
- Angharad Evans
- Mona McSharry
- Benedetta Pilato
- Evgeniia Chikunova
- Lisa Angiolini
Shortt didn’t quite hit his Irish record level, but would have had to have made a considerable improvement on that to get a medal in what was a quick race. Mona McSharry is up next of the Irish.
John Shortt finishes 7th
Shortt went out fasters than usual but couldn’t maintain it to sneak a bronze medal. The dominant Hungarian Kos, who has a Cork father, won with 1:53.08, just short of the world record he was seeking.
Shortt swims 1:55.86. Greece’s Apostolos Siskos was second with 1:53.81 and Thomas Ceccon was third with 1.53.96.
Shortt goes out in sixth for the first 50m, Kos well ahead, and indeed ahead of world record line after 100m. Shortt going well, usually a strong finisher.
John Shortt is out in the pool. Here is the start list for the men’s 200m backstroke final:
- Hugo Gonzalez de Oliveira
- John Shortt
- Jan Cejka
- Hubert Kos
- Apostolos Siskos
- Roman Mityukov
- Flavio Bucca
- Thomas Ceccon
First up are the women’s 200m freestyle semi-finals, no Irish involved there though. John Shortt then racing at 5.40pm.
Here is Michael Scully’s report from earlier, when Ellen Walshe secured her place in the 400m individual medley final in Paris.
Walshe, who won European gold in 2022, was sixth overall in terms of time with 4:41.76 in the first semi-final and that was enough for second place. Her final starts at 6.54pm.
“I’m delighted to be into a final tonight,” said the 24-year-old. “It is going to be a stacked final tonight, so we’ll have to see how we play it.”
[ Ellen Walshe secures place in 400 individual medley final in ParisOpens in new window ]
Hello and welcome to live coverage of swimming and athletics this evening where there is a chance of medals in the pool, while Rhasidat Adeleke and Lauren Roy will try to make the 200m final on the track.
Olympic medallists Mona McSharry and Daniel Wiffen will lead the Irish charge for European medals in particular, with McSharry qualifying in second and Wiffen qualifying in third for their events. First up is world junior champion John Shortt, the 19-year-old is capable of great things and he’ll race in the 200m backstroke final at 5.40pm.
European swimming championships:
5.40pm: Men’s 200m backstroke final: John Shortt
5.58pm: Women’s 100m breaststroke final: Mona McSharry
6.54pm: Women’s 400IM final: Ellen Walshe
7.03pm: Men’s 800m freestyle final: Daniel Wiffen
European athletics championships:
8.20pm: Women’s 200m semi-finals: Rhasidat Adeleke, Lauren Roy
