Hill eighth in European 50m backstroke defence
Hill eighth in European 50m backstroke defence
Thu, August 13, 2026 at 6:15 PM UTC
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Danielle Hill's defence of her 50m backstroke title at the European Aquatics Championships ended with an eighth-place finish in the final.
The Ireland swimmer posted a time of 27.91 seconds as Italy's Sara Curtis won the race with a world record time of 26.56, while GB's Lauren Cox was third.
When she won in 2024, Hill became the first Irish swimmer to win a gold medal at a long-course swimming championships in 27 years.
In the men's 200m breaststroke final, Jack Kelly, who set an Irish record in the semi-finals, was seventh as Filip Nowacki won gold for Team GB.
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GB swimmer Jack McMillan, from Northern Ireland, qualified for the final of men's 200m freestyle the with the sixth-fastest time.
McMillan finished fifth in his heat behind Olympic champions David Popovici, Lukas Martens and James Guy, while Christian Geifing was the only other swimmer to go faster in the second semi-final.
Olympic medallist Mona McSharry, who won Ireland's first medal of the Games with silver in the 100m breaststroke, won her 200m breaststroke semi-final with a time of 2:23.53 and qualified for Friday's final in fourth overall.
Ellie McCartney, in her first event since winning Commonwealth Games bronze for Northern Ireland, was fifth in a faster second semi-final with a time of 2:24.15 and qualified for the final in seventh place.
Source: “AOL Sports”
