Larne swimmer Danielle Hill concluded her participation in the women’s 50m backstroke at the World Short Course Championships in Budapest on Thursday, securing an 11th-place finish. During her evening semi-final in Budapest, Hill recorded a time of 26.34, improving her morning performance by 0.23 seconds. Earlier, Hill, representing Ireland, had qualified 13th fastest for the semi-finals with a morning heat time of 26.57 seconds. Despite her improved evening time, the 25-year-old narrowly missed a spot in the final by 0.09 seconds. Her semi-final time was also 0.01 seconds shy of her personal national record. USA’s Katharine Berkoff topped the qualifiers for the final, achieving a time of 25.51 in her semi-final. Meanwhile, Hill’s Ireland team-mate, Shane Ryan, advanced to Friday’s men’s 50m backstroke final. He clocked 22.89 in his evening semi-final. The 30-year-old’s semi-final time marked a 0.09-second improvement over his morning heat, where he had initially qualified third for the semi-finals. In the morning session, Ryan was one of only three competitors to complete the race in under 23 seconds. However, the performance standard rose in the evening, with Russian Miron Lifintsev, participating as a neutral athlete in the championships, leading the qualifiers again with a time of 22.70 seconds. Ellen Walshe also came close to qualifying for the women’s 100m individual medley final, despite setting her sixth Irish record of the championships. Walshe’s semi-final time of 58.55 seconds placed her ninth, just 0.08 seconds outside a final position. This time was 0.30 seconds faster than her national mark from the morning heats, which itself had surpassed her previous Irish record from last month by 0.45 seconds. The Dublin swimmer had previously secured fifth place in the 200m individual medley final on Tuesday. Armagh’s Nathan Wiffen finished 21st in the men’s 400m freestyle, posting a time of 3:44.05, which stands as the second-fastest of his career. Wiffen’s time was 4.91 seconds short of the qualifying standard for Thursday evening’s final, which featured eight swimmers. World Championships debutant Jack Cassin equalled Brendan Hyland’s Irish 200m butterfly record, achieving a time of 1:53.19 to finish 16th overall. Post navigation Hearts to Assess Character of Players Identified by Jamestown Analytics Sean Dyche on Armando Broja’s Debut: “I thought it was a really good cameo”