2025 MCCULLAGH INTERNATIONAL
- Friday, February 21st – Sunday, February 23rd
- The Aurora Sports & Leisure Centre, Bangor, Northern Ireland
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- Results: Meet Mobile – McCullagh International Meet 2025
The 2025 McCullagh International Meet saw action begin last night from Bangor, Northern Ireland with over 500 swimmers from 100 clubs kicking off their 2025 year of racing.
Swimmers from the Irish and British Olympic teams were among the competitors bringing the heat to this 3-day competition.
Day 1 Highlights
28-year-old Duncan Scott of the University of Stirling dove in for the men’s 100m free, punching an in-season time of 49.47 to get to the wall first.
That held the narrowest of margins ahead of teammate Jack McMillan who settled for silver in 49.48 while 20-year-old Evan Bailey of the National Centre Limerick rounded out the podium in 49.71.
Scott’s swim follows his 49.50 result last week while racing at the 2025 Dubai Open Swimming Championships.
Edinburgh’s Scott Gibson was the top men’s 50m backstroker, hitting a time of 25.75 to beat the field by over a second.
25-year-old Gibson’s lifetime best of 24.83 in this event is from the 2023 Scottish Open Championships, which made him Great Britain’s third-best performer in history.
28-year-old Olympian Lucy Hope was too quick to catch in the women’s 100m free, logging the sole time of the field under the 56-second threshold.
Hope touched in a time of 55.74 to get the job done ahead of 18-year-old Grace Davison‘s time of 56.63 and Drew McKenzie‘s effort of 56.68.
Kara Hanlon put up a time of 1:07.45 to clear the women’s 100m breaststroke field, although Ellie McCartney was within range with a silver medal-worthy 1:07.77. National Centre Dublin’s Niamh Coyne secured bronze in 1:10.83.
While Hanlon has been as swift as 1:06.36 in her career, McCartney’s performance here represents her first-ever foray under the 1:08 barrier.
Finally, Irish multi-national record holder Ellen Walshe dominated the women’s 400m IM race, getting to the wall 10 seconds ahead of her peers.
Templelogue’s Walshe turned in a result of 4:43.33 to sit just outside the list of top 5 performers in the world so far this season.
It’s nice to see McCullagh really giving some fast breaststroke times with both girls top ten in the world at the moment, even without McSharry
2:26.0 in 2Brst Ellie Mccartney is on fire this weekend !
Duncan isn’t 28 until May.