Darragh Greene bowed out of the 100m breaststroke at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
The Longford native was sixth in his heat in 1:00.54 and 19th overall. Greene was just 0.32 of a second off a semi-final place. Greene returns for the 50m Breaststroke on Tuesday.
RESULT:
Men 100m Breaststroke
Darragh Greene
1:00.54 (19th)#TeamIreland | #teamarenaIRL | #AQUAFukuoka23 pic.twitter.com/x4aFmZuFyC— Swim Ireland (@swimireland) July 23, 2023
Meanwhile, Ellen Walshe had the swim of her life, becoming the first Irish swimmer to secure an Olympic qualification time for Paris 2024.
Walshe, entered the 200 metres Individual Medley semi-finals ranked in 16th place. Walshe finished fourth in her semi-final posting 2:10.92, finishing ninth overall.
The time wipes over a second off her Irish Record of 2:12.02 and is well inside the Paris 2024 Olympic Qualification Time (OQT) of 2:11.47.
“I’m delighted” beamed Walshe. “I was pretty nervous this morning coming into it and tonight I got the chance to do it again and I was like, just take the opportunity and enjoy it. I went out and it was the easiest swim of my life I think.”
“It was hard this morning because you gave it 100% from the start” Walshe continued. “You didn’t quite get what you wanted out of it. And you think do I have anything left in this and tonight I thought, you have nothing to lose. Keep the faith and believe in yourself. I was out in a side lane tonight and I just enjoyed every moment of it”.Walshe has a wait for her return to the pool next Sunday in the 400m individual Medley and 4x100m Medley Relay.
Tomorrow's schedule
Tomorrow will see individual debuts at the championships from Danielle Hill in the 100m backstroke, Conor Ferguson in the 100m Backstroke and Mona McSharry in the 100m breaststroke.
