Ellen Walshe Takes Down Irish 400 IM Record From 1994

2021 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Thursday, December 16th – Tuesday, December 21st
• Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
• SCM (25m)
• Prize Money
• Meet Site
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results

A historic Irish national record that’s been on the books over two decades went down during this very first prelims session of the 2021 FINA Short Course World Championships.

The first Irish national standard was slain at the hands of on-fire Ellen Walshe, the 20-year-old Tennesse Vol. Walshe took on the women’s 400m IM this evening, registering a time of 4:30.78 to land the 4th seed heading into tonight’s final.

Top 8 Qualifiers:

1. Ilaria Cusinato (ITA) – 4:30.27
2. Tess Cieplucha (CAN) – 4:30.62
3. Melanie Margalis (USA) – 4:30.75
4. Ellen Walshe (IRL) – 4:30.78
5. Bailey Andison (CAN) – 4:31.08
6. Zsuzsanna Jakabos (HUN) – 4:32.02
7. Katie Shanahan (GBR) – 4:32.75
8. Emma Weyant (USA) – 4:32.97

Entering this competition, Walshe’s personal best rested at the 4:38.38 she posted at the 2019 Irish Short Course Championships.

However, here in Abu Dhabi, Walshe nailed splits as follows to become the fastest Irish woman ever by a giant margin. She overtook a longstanding national mark of 4;36.84 that Michelle Smith put on the books back at the 1994 World Cup.

Walshe already has made a name for herself in the first year at Tennessee in the NCAA. The Dublin native fired off a time of 50.24 in the 100y butterfly last month becoming the 2nd fastest freshman ever in the event with a good chunk of the college swimming season remaining.