Danielle Hill sets new Irish record in 50m butterfly in Bangor

Danielle Hill starred on the second day of the McCullagh International in Bangor with a new Irish record in the 50m butterfly.

The Larne swimmer added 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle golds to the 50m backstroke gold won on Thursday.

The 25-year-old, who will be competing for a place on Team Ireland for the Paris Olympics at the Irish trials in May, won the race in 26.45 seconds, knocking .17 of a second off Mona McSharry's 2019 record of 26.62.

Earlier in the evening, Hill , who now holds five individual Irish Records (50m and 100m freestyle, 50m and 100m backstroke, and 50m butterfly) was just .05 off her 50m freestyle Irish record of 25.15, clocking 25.20 for gold.

Ellen Walshe, who achieved the Olympic qualification time in the 200m individual medley at the 2023 World Championships, won the final of the event tonight in 2:12.90.

In the men’s 50m freestyle, Tom Fannon prevailed in 22.39.

In the men’s 200m backstroke, John Shortt was just one hundredth of a second off his Irish record, claiming gold in 1:58.48.

Adding to two silver medals won on Thursday, Maria Godden claimed gold in the women’s 200m backstroke in 2:14.12.

Evan Bailey was impressive in the 100m butterfly final. The 18-year-old touched in 54.23, one hundredth of a second outside of his Irish junior record of 54.22.

Earlier today, Ards claimed a second relay gold in the women’s 4x200m freestyle. Zophia Quigley, Grace Davison, Megan Diamond and Victoria Catterson combined for a time of 8:47.25.

In the mixed 4x100m medley relay, Larne’s Danielle Hill, Morgan Berryman, Thomas Leggett, and Sophie Doran topped the podium in 4:08.38.