Ellen Walshe also won a silver as Ireland finish opening day on top of the medals table
Walshe’s first final was the 100m fly, where she produced a stirring comeback. The Templeogue woman looked to be in trouble after the first 50 when she turned in eighth place overall. But she produced the fastest second 50m of any swimmer in the pool, thundering home in 30.4 seconds to claim second place in 58.70, missing the gold medal by just two tenths of a second to Britain’s Keanna McInnes.
Walshe’s time of 2:13.12 saw her reach the end narrowly in second place behind Justina Kozan, but as that swimmer is from the US the gold medal goes to Walshe as the fastest European. Speaking after the race, Walshe said: “I’ve never won a European medal in my life, I’ve got a youth medal but I haven’t got a European medal, it’s under-23s, it’s probably my only year I will be able to get this medal so I’m delighted to take gold for the 200IM today.”
He led from the very first 50m length and never relinquished it over the following 29 as he flirted with both World and European records at different stages of his swim. Wiffen cruised home to win gold in 14:35.79, just outside his best time of 14:34.91, after an brilliant performance in front of a raucous home attendance.
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