Shane Ryan Secures Bronze in 50m Backstroke at World Short Course Championships

Ireland’s Shane Ryan earned the men’s 50m backstroke bronze medal at the World Short Course Championships held in Budapest. Ryan completed the race in 22.56 seconds, placing him 0.09 seconds behind the victor, Miron Lifintsev, a Russian athlete participating as a neutral competitor due to the prohibition on Russian teams. The time achieved by US-born Ryan was 0.20 seconds faster than his own Irish record established in 2018. Australia’s Isaac Cooper secured the silver medal with a time of 22.49 seconds. The successful evening for Irish swimming continued with Ellen Walshe, who qualified for the women’s 100m butterfly final as the third fastest swimmer. The Dubliner set her eighth Irish record of the championships, recording a time of 55.50 seconds in her semi-final heat. Walshe had advanced to the semi-finals after establishing her seventh Irish record of the championships, achieving a 56.17-second swim during the morning heats. This performance reduced her prior best mark from last year by 0.50 seconds. Her strongest showing of the week thus far was a fifth-place finish in the 200m individual medley final on Tuesday. Walshe is considered a potential medal winner for the 100m butterfly final scheduled for Saturday evening. However, Gretchen Walsh of the USA is widely favored for the gold medal, having set a world record of 52.87 seconds, a time over two seconds faster than Sweden’s Louise Hansson, the second fastest qualifier. Earlier in the competition, Ellie McCartney, from Fermanagh, recorded her second fastest 200m breaststroke time, completing the event in 2:23.26 to secure sixth place in her heat. The 200m breaststroke represents the 19-year-old’s sole event in Budapest. During the morning session, Eoin Corby, a Limerick-based swimmer and colleague of McCartney, established a new national men’s 200m breaststroke record. His time of 2:06.45 surpassed the previous mark set by Uiseann Cooke in 2021 by 0.36 seconds. This performance by the 22-year-old also resulted in him finishing sixth in his respective heat.