Ellen Walshe continued her historic European Championships as she won gold in the 200m medley in Paris.
Walshe came from behind to win, with her final 100m seeing her come from 5th place all the way to first, beating everyone out of the water from the outside lane.
The Templeogue star came in with a time of 2:09.81, finishing ahead of Italy’s Anita Gastaldi and Belgium’s Roos Vanotterdijk. The win adds to her 400m medley gold she won on Wednesday.
Ellen Walshe of Ireland. Pic: Ewan Gavet/Sportsfile
‘Yeah, I actually can’t believe it,’ Walshe told RTÉ after her victory. ‘I don’t know how I was feeling coming into it. But I just, I don’t even know, honestly. I’m just so shocked.’
She explained that it was all about the final push after she came into the final turn in fifth. ‘Oh, just the underwater 15, hopefully, you’re somewhere around that, just to give myself a bit of a boost, and I just kicked the whole way home.’
For Daniel Wiffen, it was a rough race as he finished 8th in the 1500m freestyle, the event he won bronze in at the Paris Olympics. After a rough move in California, which didn’t work out for him or his brother Nathan, Wiffen recently moved back to Ireland and is slowly finding his old form.
Ellen Walshe of Ireland on her way to winning gold. Pic: Ewan Gavet/Sportsfile
However, he was no match for the 19-year-old German Johannes Liebmann, as he smashed the World Record by over 3 seconds, coming in with a time of 14:26.79, shocking everyone with just how comfortably he beat the competition.
Walshe’s medal adds to the impressive tally for Irish swimming so far this week at the European Championships. Olympic bronze medalist Mona McSherry won a silver and bronze medal, and she has a chance to win another medal after qualifying for the 50m breaststroke final.
Ireland’s two-time gold medal winner Ellen Walshe speaks to #RTESport in the immediate aftermath of her 200m IM victory pic.twitter.com/YZFxv7BB9a
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 15, 2026