Ellen secures two new Irish records in Budapest

Ellen Walshe made waves with two new Irish Records and confirmed places in the 50m Butterfly Semi-Final and 200m Individual Medley Final on the opening morning of racing at the World Swimming Championships (SC) in Budapest.

Templeogue’s Walshe showed no signs of an Olympic hangover as the Paris 2024 Finalist broke the 50m Butterfly and 200m individual Medley records in the space of forty minutes.

The 23-year-old, who is the Active South Dublin in association with The Echo and South Dublin County Council, Sport Star of the Year,  first broke her own 50m Butterfly record of 25.90 in 25.65, the previous record having stood since 2022.

The time saw Walshe sixth in her heat and fourteenth overall, inside the top sixteen required for the semi-final.

The 200m Individual Medley was a bigger ask, with only the top eight progressing to the Final from the morning heats.

A strong showing from Walshe saw her take almost two seconds off her best time and Irish Record finishing in 2:06.50.

The former time was a bronze medal winning performance from the 2023 European Championships of 2:08.32.

Walshe secured fourth place in her heat and advances sixth overall.

Speaking after her races, Walshe said: ‘I’m delighted, I’ve raced a lot of short course since the start of my season in September, I just wanted to come out here and enjoy it, there’s no pressure, there’s no qualifying for any meets so you just have to get up and race.

“I absolutely love short course (25m), I train it every day of the week so I enjoy it and I think this meet off the Olympics is a nice bounce back for me, it can be quite daunting, do I need to take time off or whatever, so it was nice to just get straight back in and have a target which was Worlds, so we’re here now and I’m enjoying every moment’.

Walshe will have an even tighter turnaround this evening with the 50m Butterfly Semi-Final taking place at 16.43 (IRL) and 200m Individual Medley Final taking place at 17.01 (IRL).