2025 IRISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Saturday, April 12th – Wednesday, April 16th
- Sport Ireland National Aquatic Centre, Dublin, Ireland
- LCM (50m)
- SwimSwam Preview
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheet
- Results – Meet Mobile: Irish Open Championships 2025
The 2025 Irish Open Championships kicked off today from Dublin with swimmers vying for World Championships qualifying times with Singapore on the horizon.
As a refresher, several swimmers have already made the grade courtesy of their performances at last year’s Olympic Games and World Championships. Daniel Wiffen, Mona McSharry, Ellen Walshe, Tom Fannon, Danielle Hill, and Shane Ryan are on the list but still need to compete here in order to assure their slots.
23-year-old Ellen Walshe competed in two events to kick off her campaign, taking on the women’s 200m IM and 200m butterfly.
Wasting no time making her presence known, Walshe grabbed the top spot in each event, clocking championship records in both to boot.
In the 2IM heats, Walshe stopped the clock at a time of 2:11.14, a result within striking distance of the 2:10.92 Irish record she set in the semi-finals at the 2023 World Championships.
Just two events later in the 2fly heats, Walshe got to the wall in a result of 2:08.66 to beat the pack by over 11 seconds.
The Templelogue star opened in 1:03.17 and closed in 1:05.49 to knock down a mark just .24 outside of the 2:08.42 national record she put on the books just last month.
Having accomplished the aforementioned criterium of needing to compete here, Walshe opted out of the next round in both events.
In her stead, Grace Davison notched the top time of the 200m IM semi-finals in 2:15.82 while Alana Burns-Atkin accomplished the same feat in the 2fly in a time of 2:18.05.
The men’s 200m free saw 20-year-old Evan Bailey snag the top slot out of the semi-finals, registering a time of 1:47.26.
He was actually quicker in the morning, qualifying as the man to beat with a heats outing of 1:47.08, a new lifetime best. In fact, his morning outing fell just over half a second off the 1:46.66 Irish record Jack McMillan put on the books at last year’s Olympic Games.
Bailey will still have one more race in which to qualify for the World Championships; however, in the meantime, his performances have been solid enough to qualify for the World University Games and European Aquatics U23 Championships.
Additional Notes
- 26-year-old Larne swimmer Danielle Hill is the top-seeded female heading into tomorrow night’s 100m backstroke final. She notched a time of 1:00.67 to hold over a second advantage on the rest of the field. Hill owns the national record, courtesy of the 59.11 produced at last year’s Irish Championships.
- 18-year-old John Shortt was the top 100m backstroker on the men’s side, carrying a semi-final time of 53.90 into tomorrow night’s main event. His performance represented a new lifetime best and his first-ever foray under the 54-second barrier.
- Clare Custer claimed the women’s 1500m free top seed in 17:16.39 while Nathan Wiffen led the men’s 800m free in 8:02.00. Daniel Wiffen is ranked 3rd into the final with a casual swim of 8:29.46.
