Walshe and Hill impress with new Irish records

Ellen Walshe and Danielle Hill were on top form on Saturday as they set new Irish records.

Walshe smashed the 400m individual medley best recorded by Michelle Smith in 1996.

The Templeogue swimmer clocked 4:37.94 in the Leinster Swimming Championships in Dublin to take over a second off Smith's time of 4:39.18.

Larne's Hill broke her own 50m backstroke record at the Ulster LC Championships in Bangor with 27.64 - her previous best was 27.69 from 2023.

Walshe has already qualified for the Paris Games in the 200m individual medley and the 22-year-old’s time on Saturday was under the Olympic qualification mark of 4:38.53.

However, she'll need to have a similar performance at the Irish Open Championships and Olympic trials in less than three weeks to be able to swim it in Paris.