Latest news with #EllieMcCartney
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
McCartney prepares for World Aquatics Championships in Singapore
Enniskillen's Ellie McCartney has been selected to represent Ireland at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, joining an impressive 12-strong team that includes Olympic Champion Daniel Wiffen and fellow Olympic medallist Mona McSharry. The announcement marks a significant milestone for the 20-year-old National Centre Limerick swimmer, who earned her place on the team following her outstanding performances at the Irish Open Championships where she set a championship record in the 200m Breaststroke with a time of 2:24.35. McCartney joins an exciting blend of experienced athletes and emerging talent, with Swim Ireland naming several promising young swimmers alongside established stars like European Champion Danielle Hill and Olympic semi-finalist Tom Fannon. The team will be looking to build on Ireland's historic three-medal haul from the Paris Olympics. McCartney's preparation for Singapore continued with impressive performances at the prestigious Mare Nostrum Swim Tour, competing across venues in Barcelona and Canet-en-Roussillon. The international competition provided crucial race experience against world-class opposition ahead of the World Championships. In her first outing, McCartney qualified to both the 100m Breaststroke B Final (1:08.05) and 200m Individual Medley B Final (2:14.94), using the competition as valuable preparation for her upcoming international commitments. Her standout performance came in the 200m Breaststroke, where she demonstrated remarkable improvement throughout the competition. After clocking 2:28.18 in the heats, McCartney returned for the A final and delivered a stunning 2:25.46, narrowly missing the podium in fourth place but showing the kind of form that earned her World Championship selection. The final leg of the Mare Nostrum tour saw McCartney continue to excel. She qualified for the 100m Breaststroke A Final, recording 1:08.44 to finish sixth in a highly competitive field. Her crowning achievement came in the 200m Breaststroke Final, where McCartney claimed bronze with a time of 2:24.55, finishing just 0.3 seconds behind silver. Remarkably, the final featured at least three Olympians and a Commonwealth swimmer, underlining the quality of competition McCartney is now competing against at the highest level. McCartney's selection for the World Championships caps off a remarkable rise that has seen her become Ireland's second-fastest ever female breaststroke swimmer in both the 100m and 200m events. Her times now place her in the world's top twenty-five rankings for 2025 in the 200m Breaststroke. The busy summer schedule ahead includes the European Aquatics U23 Championships, where McCartney will look to build further on her recent success before heading to Singapore for the World Championships. Her progression from promising junior to world-class competitor has been remarkable, and she enters these major competitions with genuine medal prospects. Team Ireland's World Championships squad reflects the current strength of Irish swimming, with athletes spanning different generations and specialities. As Daniel Wiffen looks to defend his 800m and 1500m Freestyle world titles won in Doha 2024, McCartney represents the exciting future of Irish swimming on the world stage. The continued support from local sponsors Encirc and Balcas, as well as Sport NI & Sport Ireland, has been instrumental in McCartney's development, enabling her to compete at this elite level and represent both her local community and Ireland with distinction.
BBC News
15-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Wiffen leads 12-strong Ireland team for Worlds
Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen will headline Ireland's challenge at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore in Magheralin swimmer will bid to defend the 800m and 1500m freestyle world titles he won in Doha in spearheads a 12-strong Irish team that also includes women's 100m breaststroke Paris bronze medallist Mona year's European champion Danielle Hill and former Commonwealth Youth Games gold medallist Ellie McCartney are the other two athletes from Northern Ireland named in the 800m freestyle champion Wiffen, who is currently finalising his preparations at a training camp in Arizona, is expected to add the 400m freestyle to his programme as 23 year-old won the Irish National titles in all three events in World Aquatics Championships take place from 11 July to 3 August. McCartney to make Worlds debut Also at the Irish Nationals in April, McCartney produced the swim of her career so far to qualify for the World Championships in the 200m 20-year-old from Enniskillen set a huge personal best and championship record time of 2:24.35. As a junior McCartney had given notice of her potential at the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad & Tobago, where she won two golds and a bronze, before winning a bronze at the European Junior Championships later that also narrowly missed the qualification time for Singapore in the 100m breaststroke as she chased McSharry all the way home in the final in Dublin, losing out by just one-tenth of a has twice finished fifth in the world championship final and will be looking to finally add a world medal to the Olympic has also been named in the squad for the European U23 Championships in Slovakia alongside fellow Ulster swimmer Lottie will also compete at the World University Games in Germany while 2024 Paris Olympian Grace Davison will compete in the European Junior Championships in Danielle Hill has been focusing on improvement in her freestyle this year but will be swimming the 100m backstroke in those also in the squad are Olympic semi-finalists Ellen Walshe and Tom Fannon. With the announcement last week that high performance director Jon Rudd is moving on to take up a similar role with Saudi Arabia, the squad will be looked after by Swim Ireland head of performance pathways and operations Andrew will also lead the Northern Ireland team at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
