January Sports Star of the Month – Ellen Walshe
TEMPLEOGUE Swim Club’s Ellen Walshe made a stunning start to the new year, becoming the first ever Irish female swimmer to record a sub-minute time in the 100m Butterfly.
The 18-year-old broke the previous Irish best of 1:00.21 set by Shauna O’Brien back in 2015 with a blistering 59.54 that saw her to gold at the Flanders Cup in Belgium.
Bernard McCann, Guest Relations Manager, Green Isle Hotel, presents Ellen Walshe with The Echo ‘Sports Star of the Month Award for January. Also pictured are Stephen Leonard, Sports Editor, The Echo, Thos McDermott, South Dublin County Sports Partnership, William O’Connor, News Editor, The Echo, and Sharon Moylan, Sales Manager, Green Isle Hotel
Her superb swim served also to shave almost a second off her own previous PB of 1:00.44 set at last year’s Irish Open Championships.
It was a busy outing for Walshe in Antwerp with the opening day of competition seeing her also strike gold in the 200m Butterfly with a new PB of 2:14.15 while also finishing fourth in the 400m IM and reaching the 50m Butterfly Final.
The following day saw her clock yet another PB of 2:37.1 in the 200m Breaststroke, but it was in the 100m Butterfly Final that she really lit up the stage for her second gold of the event.
