LAST UPDATE | 29 Jul
IRELAND’S ELLEN WALSHE and Daniel Wiffen have advanced to the 400m Individual Medley and 800m Freestyle finals at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Danielle Hill also progressed from the 100m Backstroke heats at La Défense Arena this morning.
Wiffen cruised to victory, and prevailed as the fastest qualifier in 7:41.53 — just off the Olympic record.
Walshe finished fourth in her heat — and seventh overall — in a time of 4:39.97.
The Dubliner was up first. She produced a superb swim, with her freestyle leg particularly impressive. Walshe opened her Games in the 100m Butterfly on Saturday, where she fell short of a semi-final spot, but the Individual Medley is the Irish record holder’s favoured event.
She will be in Lane 1 for this evening’s final at 7.30pm.
“I tried to take out the fly strong, I don’t think it was quite there this morning,” Walshe told reporters afterwards. “I thought, ‘Oh no, we have a long way to go.’
“The backstroke is probably my weakest stroke, I knew I had 200 to go, I could see the middle of the field and thought, ‘Okay, I just need to turn on the gears and fight.’ I had a strong finish and I am delighted to go into the final tonight.
“It’s a bit of a shock. I saw fourth on the board and I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know’, it’s just a waiting game. I hadn’t seen the results from the heats before and once I saw it, it was such a relief. The time left my head which I wasn’t too over the moon with, but I have another chance to have a go at this tonight.”
“I need to go out there and enjoy it and if I can be in or around my best that would be amazing for me,” she added. “It would be great to come out of these Olympics with a PB and a new national record.”
Hill, meanwhile, will feature in the 100m Backstroke semi-finals from 7.57pm this evening. The Larne star clocked 1:00.40 to finish fourth in her heat and 16th overall.
Wiffen was the last Irish swimmer in action in the morning session. The world champion produced a controlled performance from Lane 5: he was third early on before moving through the gears and taking second after a superb turn at the 300m mark.
The two-time Olympian claimed the lead just after the halfway mark and never looked back as he made an early statement of intent ahead of tomorrow night’s final.
Mona McSharry — Walshe’s “roomie” — is also preparing for the final of the 100m Breaststroke at 8.25pm tonight.
“We had joked about hopefully us all being in the final tonight, I am so glad to join her there,” Walshe added.
- Additional reporting from Gavin Cooney in Paris
Written by Emma Duffy and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.
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