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/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap
- Live Results
19-year-old John Shortt made his presence known yet again at these 2026 Irish Open Championships, with the teen firing off a new national record en route to winning the men’s 200m backstroke.
After already nailing a new Irish standard in the 100m back earlier in the competition, the World Junior Championships gold medalist ripped a new lifetime best of 1:55.70 to grab the top spot in the longer distance.
Shortt was in an essentially one-man race, as the next-closest swimmer, Neddie Irwin, got to the wall well over seven seconds behind in 2:03.35. Emmet Cousins rounded out the podium in 2:03.36.
As for Shortt, he entered entirely new territory tonight, with his outing representing the first-ever sub-1:56 time of his young career.
Entering this meet, Shortt’s PB and Irish national record stood at the 1:56.07 he notched just last month at the Giant Open in France.
| Shortt’s New 1:55.70 IRL NR | Shortt’s Old 1:56.07 IRL NR |
| 27.66 | 27.73 |
| 29.65 (57.31) | 29.99 (57.72) |
| 29.61 | 29.67 |
| 28.78 | 28.68 |
For perspective, Shortt’s new 1:55.70 record would have reaped bronze at the 2024 European Championships. He remains ranked as the 5th-fastest swimmer in the world on the season.
2025-2026 LCM Men 200 BACK
SISKOS
1:54.12
| 2 | Hubert Kos | HUN | 1:54.21 | 12/06 |
| 3 | Pieter Coetze | RSA | 1:55.26 | 04/18 |
| 4 | Lee Juho | KOR | 1:55.34 | 12/16 |
| 5 | Roman MITYUKOV | SUI | 1:55.36 | 04/11 |
This isn’t the teen’s first rodeo when it comes to breaking Irish records. Shortt is the existing national standard holder in the SCM 100 back (50.10), 200 back (1:47.89) and 200 IM (1:55.80).
Along with the World Junior medals in the 100m/200m back, his resume includes taking gold at the 2025 European Short Course Championships in the 200m back and 2025 European Junior Championships gold in the 100m back.
On tonight’s performance, Shortt told Swim Ireland, ‘Brilliant, you know, I think the last two weeks have been really solid, you know in terms of every time I’ve gotten in the water this season I’ve improved, so I think it’s been a really solid last three days and you know I’m excited to see where the Summer goes.’
