John Shortt & Jack Kelly Knock Down National Records On Day Two Of Irish Open Championships

2026 IRISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS & COMMONWEALTH GAMES TRIALS

• Wednesday, April 8th – Sunday, April 12th
• The Aurora Sports & Leisure Centre
• LCM (50m)
• SwimSwam Preview
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheet
• Day 1 Recap
• Live Results

Day two of the 2026 Irish Open Championships was electric, with two new national records being set in swimmers’ quests to qualify for this year’s Commonwealth Games and European Championships.

Busting out the fastest time of his career in the men’s 50m breaststroke was 23-year-old Jack Kelly, with the former Brown University standout firing off a mark of 26.84.

That checked in as his second-ever outing under the 27-second barrier after having clocked 26.97 to take the top seed out of the morning heats.

Kelly, who hails from Yonkers, New York and has an Irish mother from Cork, erased the former Irish national record of 26.94 Darragh Greene put on the books at the 2019 World Championships.

31-year-old Greene was also in the race, securing 3rd place in 27.62 behind Italy’s Federico Poggio, who was slightly faster in 27.33.

Kelly trains under storied coach Bob Bowman at the University of Texas, a move he made last August.

Both Kelly and Greene notched consideration times for the European Championships.

On his performance, Kelly told the Irish Swimming Federation, ‘I feel amazing, when I looked at the board and saw that pb (personal best) I was ecstatic, it just goes to show that working with Bob (Bowman) down in Austin (Texas) has hugely paid off, so a great way to start my meet.

‘I’m really honoured, just to honour my heritage, and I think it’s a really cool opportunity to get some international races under my belt, and for me this will be the first one so I’m kind of excited to see how I do.’

Kelly now ranks 5th in the world on the season.

The other Irish benchmark to be broken came in the men’s 100m backstroke, where 19-year-old John Shortt delivered a swift outing of 53.17 to tear down his own former best-ever.

It was just last month that Shortt established the then-national record of 53.37 in the event while racing at the Giant Open in France. That performance was comprised of splits of 26.51/26.86.

In tonight’s final, Shortt was once again sub-27 seconds on both halves, logging 26.22/26.95 to reap gold in 53.17.

He handily defeated tonight’s field en route to notching a European Championships consideration time. Paddy Johnston was next to the wall in 55.57 while Neddie Irwin rounded out the podium in 56.64.

Shortt was pleased with his record-breaking performance, saying, ‘Yeah, I mean, it was a good race. I’m going to have to check the splits and see what I was, but yeah really good race. Kind of a bit disappointed, wanted to be 52 but you can’t have it all your own way – can’t be too angry at a 53 low.’

Shortt remains ranked 6th in the world at the moment.

The women did some damage as well, with 21-year-old Rosalie Phelan getting it done for gold in the women’s 50m fly.

Phelan stopped the clock at a speedy result of 26.62, her first-ever foray under the 27-second barrier.

Entering this competition, Phelan’s lifetime best rested at the 27.19 notched in February of this year, a time she lowered to 27.13 in this morning’s prelims.

Phelan’s time tonight broke the meet record, a time of 26.84, which Olympian Danielle Hill established in 2022.

Alana Burns-Atkin snagged silver in 27.16 while Hill bagged the bronze in 27.26.

Both Phelan and Burns-Atkin reaped European Championship-worthy consideration times.

Additional Notes

• 25-year-old Templeogue ace Ellen Walshe followed up her 200m fly victory from last night with another gold, this time in the 400m IM. The Olympian and national record holder nabbed the top spot in 4:39.38, over 15 seconds ahead of her competitors. She clinched a European Championships roster spot with this performance, with her time just off her season-best of 4:39.08 put up at February’s Dubai Open to rank 18th in the world.
• Olympic medalist Mona McSharry dove in for the women’s 50m breaststroke, where the 26-year-old found success in a mark of 30.43. That got her to the wall well over a second ahead of the field, registering a Euros consideration time in the process.
• Also making the European Championships grade was 22-year-old Liam Custer, the winner of the men’s 400m IM. Custer delivered a performance of 4:23.14, a new personal best by over two seconds. He’s now approaching the Irish national record of 4:22.57 Jack Cassin put on the books in 2023.
• Lottie Cullen topped the podium in the women’s 100m back in a time of 1:00.35. She led a quartet of Euros qualifying racers, with Grace Davison and Maria Godden also landing on the podiums in times of 1:00.61 and 1:01.87 for respective silver and bronze. National record holder Hill settled for 4th place this evening in 1:02.31, well off her lifetime best of 59.11 from the 2024 edition of this meet.
• Bangor’s James Ward came out on top of a tightly-contested men’s 50m butterfly field. The 27-year-old reached the wall in 24.17, just .13 ahead of Dylan Registe. Registe was relegated to the silver medal position in 24.30 and Xi Gong touched in 24.45 for the bronze medal.