Copyright evoke
Ellen Walshe is swim-ply the best, smashing yet another Irish record and securing a silver medal at the World Aquatics World Cup. Last week, the Dublin woman came second in the 200m butterfly, and this week, she clocked a time of 2:02.73, shaving more than two seconds off her own record of 2:04.83. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite enough to beat winner, USA's Regan Smith, who clocked a time of 2:00.34. Elsewhere, Mona McSharry took bronze in the 200m breaststroke. The Sligo woman shaved a second off her own senior record, coming home in 2:18.27. Limerick swimmer Ellie McCartney also had a lot to celebrate during her first-ever World Cup appearance, and came eighth in the final with a time of 2:20.91. Ellen has been on the up and up since her health setback just a few years ago. The sportswoman contracted Glandular Fever that brought her so low she could barely spend ten minutes in the pool. The Dubliner first took ill in April 2022, and remained optimistic to return to form after taking six weeks off; however, after dealing with severe fatigue, it was December of that year before she started to feel like herself again. Ellen previously told EVOKE: 'That was really tough.. it was a long time but I had great support in terms of training plans and schedules that people worked alongside me and my coach with.' Speaking about her mental recovery, she admitted she doesn't know how she got through it, and that it wasn't easy but she stuck with it. 'I didn't get back to training until the Worlds [in 2023], I knew I could qualify for the Olympics in summer and that was where [I said to myself] so I need to do it and I did do it but I don't know how I did it because when I look back at the work I did this year in terms of the mileage in the pool it was so much more than I would have been capable of last year because of being unwell,' she said. 'It was such a success for me and my team. You can come back from the bottom if you stick with it, and there were tough days. ''Possibly at times, I thought I was done, especially when I couldn't even be in the pool, but you build up, you go from ten, to 15, to 20 to 30, you do get back on track, but it's a lot of persistence.
