On a night when fatigue could have caught up with her, Ellen Walshe produced another spectacular finish to claim a second European title in Paris before qualifying for a third final.
The 24-year-old summoned a late surge to pass Italy’s Anita Gastaldi and Belgium’s Roos Van Otterdijk to snatch gold in the women’s 200m individual medley in 2:09.81, setting a new Irish record in the process, adding to the gold medal she won in the 400m IM on Wednesday.
The Templeogue swimmer again put her power off the wall to devastating use as she turned in fifth for the final 50, powering home for gold.
There was barely time to celebrate. Her medal ceremony was held poolside just minutes before she had to report for the 200m butterfly semi-finals. Somehow, she qualified for Sunday’s final, finishing fifth overall in 2:08.96.
“It was definitely special,” said Walshe of her second gold at the meet. “It was definitely a run off the podium straight into the call room. That’s just racing under pressure, sometimes that works because you don’t have time to think about it, just get up and go.
“I’m delighted to be in the final tomorrow. I need to recover well and put a solid swim on the board. It’s going to hurt.”
Ellen Walshe celebrates with Britain’s Abbie Wood (left) after the 200m IM final. Photograph: Giorgio Scala/Inpho
Despite the quick turnaround, Walshe still managed to soak it all in. “For the 400 (ceremony), the stadium was very quiet, it was one of the last events, but there was a completely full stadium for that presentation,” she said. “It was super special, everyone stood up for the anthem and I probably enjoyed it more than the 400.”
Her second gold also drew an immediate reaction from roommate Mona McSharry, who watched from the call room after completing her own 50m freestyle semi-final.
McSharry has already claimed silver in the 100m breaststroke and bronze in the 200m this week, and now has a chance to complete her own hat-trick in the 50m breaststroke.
She qualified seventh-fastest for Sunday’s final after swimming 30.43 in her semi-final, slower than her morning heat but good enough to keep her medal hopes alive.
“Ellen winning just got me really excited and in a happy mood because she’s a really good friend of mine and I want to see her do well,” said McSharry. “But like anyone on the Irish team, if you see them do well it kind of spurs you on to also do well.”
Tom Fannon will also be in final action on Sunday having qualified for the men’s 50m freestyle, sixth-fastest overall. The 28-year-old has waited all week for his European debut and is now within touching distance of a major championship medal.
“It was a bit of a fight, and it hurt more than the heat,” said Fannon. “It’s about learning the race at this point. You go through the rounds and you learn a bit more, how your body is feeling.”
Daniel Wiffen during the men’s 1,500m final. Photograph: Giorgio Scala/Inpho
For Daniel Wiffen, however, the championships ended in disappointment. After finishing fourth in the 800m freestyle, the Olympic bronze medallist could only manage eighth in the 1,500m final, finishing more than 39 seconds behind Germany’s Johannes Liebmann, who set a new world record of 14:26.79 in winning gold.
“I’m dead to be honest,” said Wiffen after his 1,500m effort. “But it was a great race, I was happy to be in that race, to see a world record fall again. I was in it at the Olympics when I got bronze and to see that mark drop again, it’s pretty impressive.
“My time wasn’t great, but I’m happy that I’m still in these finals, getting back to where I was and that’s what next season’s going to be about, just trying to keep on going and push for that medal in LA.
“But, to be honest, I’m pretty happy that this is me finished now and I can go and have a break.
“We’ve two years to the Games and now it’s just getting the head down and getting the work I did before back into it, and trying to go for as many golds as possible.”