In doing so, Walshe made history by becoming the first Irish woman to win a European Short Course title.
The Templeogue star, who won silver in the 200m individual medley final on Saturday night, recovered from a slow start to touch home first in a new personal best time of 2:03.24, ahead of Denmark’s Helena Rosendahl Bach and Italy’s Anita Gastaldi.
Ireland’s Ellen Walshe celebrates after winning gold in the women’s 200m butterfly final during day six of the European Short Course Swimming Championships at Lublin, Poland. Photo: Nikola Krstic/Sportsfile
“I think it was going to be a big race with the girls tonight, it was a stacked field of fliers, so it was going to be about who had the better back end, you just have to hold on for the first 150m and then just try bring it home the last 50 and that’s just what I did, I just kicked like hell,” a delighted Walshe said after the race.
“I think you have to stick to your own process, which is so important to not race anyone else’s race, I know the back end can be strong, the front end, it’s definitely a weakness that I have, I need to get out quicker.
“It’s something I’m trying to work on it, but yeah, I probably need to be out a bit quicker with these girls and kind of help myself through the back end instead of like hurting so bad, but, yeah, it worked tonight, so it must work.”
Despite winning two golds at the European U23 Championships in Dublin in 2023, it was the first time Walshe stood on top of a podium and heard the national anthem.
“I think you got to enjoy these moments because they don’t come very often and I guess to stand on the top of the podium, it doesn’t come often,” she added.
“It’s my first gold medal on the international stage; I guess you have to kind of enjoy the moment because it’s over now. It’s over very quick, but it was great to have the flag and see my parents in the stands.”
Walshe was back in the pool soon after for the women’s 400m individual medley final where she finished seventh in a time of 4:38.51.
It has proved to be a glittering week for Irish swimming with a haul of seven medals from the Poland event.
Last Tuesday, Daniel Wiffen started Ireland’s medal haul with bronze in the men’s 400m freestyle final.
John Shortt then claimed gold in the men’s 200m backstroke final on Wednesday, before Wiffen stormed to a gold medal in the 1500m freestyle on Thursday.
Later that evening, Evan Bailey won bronze in the men’s 200m freestyle.
On Saturday, Walshe won silver in the 200m individual medley, while Wiffen claimed the bronze medal in the men’s 800m freestyle.
Earlier today, the Ireland men’s team fell short in their bid to reach the 4x50m medley final with a fourth-place finish in a time of 1:35.18.
On the team’s performances this week, Walshe said: “It was absolutely savage, each and every one of them played a massive part in everyone’s success this week, and I think we all got to kind of drive off that and just use it into the next season.
“It’s extremely important to keep the energy really high in the team, obviously some results can be disappointing, but we’ve got to use each other and feed off each other through this meet.
“Even heading into next week, like some people may be disappointed, but use the adrenaline that you are frustrated with and just bring it into next week and there’ll be some savage results on the board next week.
“So, yeah, the team’s in a great place, so I’m super excited to see what we’ve got this summer.”