By Retta Race on SwimSwam
2026 IRISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS & COMMONWEALTH GAMES TRIALS
Wednesday, April 8th – Sunday, April 12th The Aurora Sports & Leisure Centre LCM (50m) SwimSwam Preview Meet Central Psych Sheet Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap Live ResultsWe entered day three of the 2026 Irish Open Championships with swimmers vying not only for titles but for the opportunity to represent their nation at this year’s Commonwealth Games and European Championships.
19-year-old John Shortt continued his gold-reaping campaign, clocking a time of 25.21 to take the men’s 50m backstroke.
This effort followed up the 100m back national record-setting effort of 53.17 he set last night for the victory in that event.
This evening, Conor Ferguson settled for silver less than half a second back in 25.54 and Paddy Johnston rounded out the podium in 25.84.
As for Shortt, his time tonight was off the season-best of 25.01 he logged at last month’s Giant Open in France to rank as the world’s 17th-fastest performer this season.
Post-race, Ferguson told the Irish Swimming Federation, ‘I’m absolutely delighted, last year was such a rough year for me, like, the back injury, I didn’t even know if I’d be back here, I’m actually quite emotional because it’s my first time racing tapered since Paris and it hasn’t been an easy journey.’
After having clocked a new Irish national record this morning in the heats of the women’s 200m free, 25-year-old Templeogue ace Ellen Walshe focused on the 100m fly for tonight’s finals session.
The former University of Tennessee ace produced an outing of 58.74 as the sole competitor of the field to delve under the 1:00 barrier.
Alana Burns-Atkin was next to the wall in 1:00.15, followed by Jessica Calderbank, who captured bronze in 1:01.13.
Walshe is the fastest Irish woman ever in this 1fly event, owning a lifetime best and national record of 57.96 from the 2023 edition of this competition. This marks her 3rd gold of the competition after she already topped the podium in the women’s 200m fly and 400m IM events.
Finally, Olympic medalist Mona McSharry secured the decisive victory in the women’s 200m breast, putting up a strong outing of 2:22.22 to beat her competitors by over 3 seconds.
Ellie McCartney settled for silver in 2:25.72 and Niamh Connery rounded out the podium in 2:33.49.
McSharry’s time tonight erased her former national record of 2:22.49 put on the books in 2024. Look for an additional post on this former University of Tennessee star’s achievement.
Additional Notes
National record holder Danielle Hill clocked 28.43 to lead the women’s 50m backstroke field. Lottie Cullen was next to the wall in 28.69 followed by Jena Macdougald‘s time of 29.06. The men’s 100m fly saw Jack Cassin get it done for gold in 53.06, just .13 ahead of runner-up James Ward, who produced 53.19 as the silver medalist. Matthew Hamilton was the 3rd-place finisher in 53.63. After nailing a new national record in the 50m breast last night, 23-year-old Jack Kelly turned in a time of 2:12.55 to get it done for gold in the 200m breast. The Bob Bowman-trained ace was the fastest man by nearly 6 seconds tonight.Read the full story on SwimSwam: 2026 Irish Open Championships: Ellen Walshe Wrangles Up Her Third Gold
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