Ellen Walshe of Templeogue Swim Club will compete in the 400m Individual Medley taking place this Sunday
Rest and recovery for Ellen at World Championships
Templeogue swimmer Ellen Walshe has finished eighth in the World Swimming Championships 200m Butterfly event with a time of 2:08.34.
Previously reaching the final of the 200m Individual Medley competition earlier on in the tournament, Walshe reached the 200m Butterfly final thanks to an excellent semi final performance which saw her manage a time of 2:07.48 and break the Irish national record.
This saw her place third in her semi final group and fourth of the overall semi finals, just outside a top three which would include eventual podium finishers Summer McIntosh, Elizabeth Dekkers and Regan Smith.
The final started well for Walshe who at one stage had herself fighting for third place at the first 50 metre mark but slowly she would fall away from the pack, remaining in sixth place for the last 100 or so metres before fading in the final stretch to eight position.
Despite clocking in her second time ever in the final, it would be a last place finish for Walshe, who reflected on the tournament afterwards coming within the top eight in the world on two separate events.
“ I think even if I was to go back and think I’d be in that final, I would have been like, absolutely not, but I guess expectations build as you are a competitor, but yeah, it’s just a poor performance tonight.”
Walshe has one more event to partake in as she is set to compete in the 400m Individual Medley taking place this Sunday.
“‘I think the expectation now is just rest and recovery. I think I’ve raced six races that I probably didn’t think I’d be in, so, yeah, I think the important thing now is just to recover and wait to see what happens on Sunday.
‘It’s a big heat ahead, I think going in heat two, and it’s quite stacked, so it’d be interesting to see how it goes.”
It was certainly a difficult field of competition as can be expected from a World Championship final.
The runaway winner was 18-year-old Canadian Summer McIntosh.
Despite coming second in the semi final stage it became clear that McIntosh was just conserving her energy and for the final blitzed the rest of the competition finishing three seconds ahead of second place Regan Smith and four ahead of Elizabeth Dekkers in third.
In fact McIntosh set a new competition record with a time of 2:01.99, only a tenth of a second from breaking the world record which has stood since 2009.
McIntosh was not the only swimming prodigy taking part in the final however, 12-year-old Chinese swimmer Zidi Yu shocked the world when she was announced to be representing China at the World Championships.
She has shown that she more than deserves to be there finishing fourth in the 200m Individual Medley event and now finishing fourth again in the 200m Butterfly final from today with a time 2:06.43 finishing just .3 of a second from a Podium spot.
