Mixed emotions for Ellen Walshe after 8th-place finish in 100m IM final
Ellen Arena At Mccarthy/sportsfile Paris La Action The Irelannd's Photo In Défense Individual By The Stephen Final Medley During Walshe Women's 400m
Ellen Walshe finished 8th in the final of the women's 400m Individual Medley at the La Defense Arena but harboured regrets afterwards despite going further than she or anyone else had dared.
World record holder Summer McIntosh won, as expected. The Canadian posted a time of 4:27.71 in a dominant race. McIntosh was a clear winner from early on and her closest challenger was eventually 5.69 seconds adrift.
It was Walshe's first Olympic final. New and unexpected ground for the Dubliner. She had even spoken after her semi-final about her “shock” at qualifying as seventh fastest.
Her time of 4:40.70 was well over three seconds off her PB.
“When you look at the overall outcome, like, I'm an Olympic finalist. Not many people are able to say that. Yeah, I would have liked a stronger swim tonight.
"I thought I had a little bit more in me than this morning, but I think I tried to race the race beside me, than my own race at the start, so probably paid for it a little bit.”
Walshe was in a private battle with Mio Narita for much of the race but when the Japanese swimmer made a burst with 70 minutes to go there was no chasing her and she was left with very visible regrets at the way she approached the race.
“An IM can be raced in so many different ways and my strongest showcase is the butterfly. I think I need to take that out strong and I've kind of been pulling back on that and only recently in the last couple of months I kind of learned that I need to take it out hard.
“When you come to a massive meet like this nerves kick in and all sorts of things and when you probably do try to get a little bit stronger you kind of nearly fear that you won't be able to finish it. If I stuck to my own race plan, maybe I would have been a little bit quicker.”
She’s not done yet with Paris.
There is still a 200m Individual Medley, an event which she described as “pretty stacked”.
“If I come out of the Olympics with an Olympic final, possibly a semi-final - and maybe a PB? would be nice to see on the boards? Us athletes look at a picture like that and it's a lot of PBs, PBs and when you're not that you kind of just feel like you probably failed a little bit.”
It might take weeks or months, but she will come to see this achievement in a kinder light. She is only the third Irish swimmer to have made an Olympic final since 1996. Not to be sniffed at.