Ellen Walshe reaches 200m Individual Medley semi-finals as women's 4x100m Freestyle relay team break Irish record

Ellen Walshe booked her place in the semi-finals of the 200m Individual Medley on the opening day of swimming action the World Aquatics Championships, while the Irish women's 4x100m freestyle relay team set a new national record.

Templeogue swimmer Walshe swam both the 200m Individual Medley and 100m Butterfly on Sunday at the championships which are being held in Fukuoka, Japan and provides the first of three opportunities for competitors to book their places for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

She set a time of 2:12.83, just 0.81 seconds outside her Irish record in the 200m which was enough to seal a semi-final place, sixth in her heat and 16th overall. She will return to the pool at 1.01pm for the semi-finals.

"It's not like the swim I hoped for but I’m glad to be back in the semi-final tonight. I’ve got nothing to lose going into the semi-final, so I’ll give it my best," the 21-year-old said.

Shortly after reaching the semi-finals in that event, Walshe competed in the 100m Butterfly but finished 24th overall.

Meanwhile, Mona McSharry, Erin Riordan, Danielle Hill, and Victoria Catterson joined forces in the 4x100m Freestyle relay and their time of 3:41.75 broke the Irish record they had set two years ago by two and a half seconds.

"Pretty happy, I think it's always nice to get to start the meet off with a group of people doing a relay, I think it’s fun that way to experience everything for the first time together, that’s always nice and getting a record is great too," said McSharry.

Longford's Darragh Greene was also in action in the men's 100m Breaststroke and narrowly missed out on a place in the semi-finals after finishing 19th overall in a time of 1:00.54.