Countdown to Tokyo: “I know there is still more there. It’s just about putting it together on the day” – Walshe

ELLEN Walshe insists she will not be burdened by expectation as she prepares to compete on the Olympic stage for the very first time on Saturday morning.

While determined to try and produce her best display on the biggest of stages, the 19-year-old Templeogue swimmer is also adamant that she wants to absorb and enjoy the experience after managing to qualify at last month’s trials when she swam below the FINA ‘A’ standard for the Women’s 200m Individual Medley, clocking 2:12.02.

Poised also to race in the 100m Butterfly in Tokyo on Saturday morning before lining out in the 200m IM on Monday, Walshe is remaining focused and calm, telling The Echo “I have nothing to prove to anyone.

“I just want to go out there and be calm and just race like I did in the performance trials, because that’s when I race at my best.

“I just want to go and have fun and experience the whole event with no stress. Just get up there and see what happens.”

While Walshe may be more synonymous with the 100m Butterfly, having twice broken the Irish senior record and become the first Irish woman to dip below the one-minute barrier in the discipline, she and her coach at Templeogue, Brian Sweeney, always felt there was potential to also produce something special in the 200m IM and it was in that very field she secured Olympic qualification last month.

“Myself and Brian had talked about it loads of times” she said.

“We knew the splits were there. I was training more for the IM than the Fly and we knew the time was there. It was just about when I was going to put it together.

“I put it together in those trials and that’s what did it for me.

“I know there is still more there to grab. It’s just about putting it together on the day.

“It’s quite a race. You have to sprint each 50m and I was always only racing the last 150, but then I put the whole race together in the final, that’s how I made the time.

“I knew after the heats in the trials when I went to [2]13.1 that I definitely had another .6 in this and I ended up a whole second faster so I was delighted.”

It set her up for an exciting summer that sees her not only poised to line-out in the Olympics, but also gearing up for a move to the US.

“The support I’ve had in Templeogue has been great. I have a great club and coach who have been fantastic” said Walshe.

“I’m leaving in August time to [University of Tennessee]. I’ll be flying over with one of the other Irish girls, Mona McSharry. She’s been there a year.

“It’s a four-year scholarship and I’m just hoping it will be fun” she said.