"One step forward to the World Championships": Co Fermanagh's Ellie McCartney completes medal set at the European U23 Championships
Co Fermanagh's Ellie McCartney completed the full medal set at the European U23 Championships in Slovakia after taking silver in the 200m breaststroke.
After winning gold in the 200m individual medley on Thursday and then bronze in the 100m breaststroke on Friday, the 20-year-old then collected a silver medal in the pool on Saturday.
In the 200m breaststroke final in Samorin, a controlled race from the National Centre Limerick swimmer saw her third after 100m behind Denmark’s Clara Rybek-Anderson and Lithuania’s Kotryna Teterekova.
However, she then mounted a comeback, out splitting both swimmers ahead of her in the second 100 metres, but just not enough time to catch 2024 European silver medallist in the event Rybek-Anderson, who got the touch ahead of McCartney in 2:23.89, just .13 ahead of a personal best from the Enniskillen woman in 2:24.02. Teterekova settled for third in 2:24.86.
Speaking after the race, McCartney – who was representing Swim Ireland - said: "I’m happy with how the past few days have panned out, in the general scale of things this is only one step forward to the World Championships in Singapore.
"It's bittersweet being so close to getting gold again, but to get a PB, I know I put my best foot forward and my best performance out there, and to walk away a European U23 Champion is more than I could have dreamed of.
"I’ve achieved my goals that I wanted to while I was here and anything else was a bonus, so I’m walking away with my head held high."
McCartney’s gold medal in the 200m individual medley saw her