6 days Ago
John Shortt clocked new Irish senior and junior records in the 200m backstroke heats at the World Aquatics Championships on Sunday. The 17-year-old National Centre Limerick swimmer finished in 1:51.60, shaving a second off the 1:52.
60 he set last month. Shortt, who also set an Irish junior record in the 100m backstroke earlier this week in Budapest, came second in his heat and 12th overall in his first World Short Course Championships. "I'm feeling good, two really good swims in one week - in my past two World Championships some swims have been quite disappointing," he said.
"So to be coming here and getting two personal bests and being 12th in the world is really cool, I'm really delighted with it." Lottie Cullen, of Swim Belfast and now based at the University of Houston, took five seconds off her 200m backstroke best time to finish 13th overall on her World Championships debut. Cullen, whose previous best stood at 2:10.
35, touched in 2:05.57 to become Ireland's second fastest ever swimmer in the event, behind double Olympian Melanie Nocher (2:04.29).
National Centre Limerick's Evan Bailey opened the morning for Ireland with a personal best swim in the 200m freestyle. The New Ross man clocked 1:43.61 in his World Championships debut for fifth place in his heat and inside the top 18 in the world.
.
