Ireland’s Ellen Walshe Makes Presence Known On Day One Of 2024 Flanders Cup

2024 FLANDERS SWIMMING CUP

• Friday, January 19th – Sunday, January 21st
• Wezenberg Olympic Swimming Center, Antwerp, Belgium
• LCM (50m)
• SwimSwam Preview
• Meet Central
• Live Results
• Livestream

The 25th edition of the annual Flanders Swimming Cup kicked off today in Belgium with the competition recognized by World Aquatics and European Aquatics as a qualifier for international competitions.

Squads from the host nation, as well as Great Britain, Germany, and beyond, are competing over 3 days ahead of next month’s World Championships in Doha, Qatar.

Versatile Irish star Ellen Walshe wasted no time making her presence known, with the University of Tennessee swimmer diving in for 3 finals during night one’s session.

Walshe first nabbed gold in the women’s 100m fly, scoring a mark of 1:00.57. That got the 22-year-old to the wall about one and a half seconds ahead of the field to begin her competition.

Next up for Walshe was the 200m IM where she notched a winning effort of 2:13.47. That handily defeated the pack, with teammate Ellie McCartney relegated to runner-up in a time of 2:15.79 while another teammate, Grace Davison, rounded out the podium in 2:17.91.

Finally, Walshe led off the Irish women’s 4x100m free relay with a 56.71 opener. Grace Davison (57.37), Maria Godden (57.26) and Victoria Catterson (57.39) combined to collectively clock a time of 3:48.73 to top the podium in the event.

In the women’s 1500m freestyle event, 20-year-old Belgian ace Alisee Pisane grabbed the gold. Pisane got to the wall in a time of 16:41.24 to get the job done.

Pisane owns a lifetime best of 16:22.18 in the event, a time she registered in Edinburgh last year to establish the current Belgian national record in the event.

Additional Notes

• Great Britain’s Ed Mildred won the men’s 100m fly in a result of 53.05.
• Jonathan Adam, also of Great Britain, bagged the men’s 100m back gold in a time of 54.34.
• Germany’s Lucas Matzerath was too quick to catch in the men’s 100m backstroke, producing a winning effort of 1:00.62.
• The women’s 50m breast saw Belgium’s Fleur Vermeiren clock a time of 31.66 to come away with the gold.
• Great Britain’s Kieran Bird reaped gold in the men’s 400m free, registering a mark of 3:54.39. That’s well off the Bath swimmer’s lifetime best of 3:46.00, a time he registered in 2021 to stand as GBR’s 6th-best performer in history.
• Bath’s Jacob Whittle represented the sole swimmer of the men’s 50m freestyle field to dip under the 23-second barrier. Whittle notched 22.73 to earn gold en route to the British Swimming Championships on the horizon for April as the Olympic Trials meet.
• Of note, Freya Anderson of Great Britain was slated to race the women’s 200m free today but wound up not diving in for the event.