Danielle Hill Clocks 50 Fly Irish Record At 2024 McCullagh International (original) (raw)
2024 MCCULLAGH INTERNATIONAL
- Thursday, April 11th – Sunday, April 14th
- Aurora Complex, Bangor, Northern Ireland
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- Live Results
The 2024 McCullagh International Meet in Ireland is in full swing and 24-year-old Danielle Hill has made her presence known across several events.
Racing on day 2 of the meet, Hill of Larne punched a new national record en route to winning the women’s 50m fly.
Hill stopped the clock at a lifetime best of 26.45 to get to the wall first, holding a healthy advantage over runner-up Ellen Walshe who settled for silver in 26.77. Jessica Calderbank earned bronze in 26.93.
Hill’s result overtook the previous Irish national standard of 26.62 Mona McSharry put on the books at the 2019 Irish Summer Championships to become the fastest women’s 50m butterflier ever from her nation.
Earlier in the competition, the 50m back also fell victim to Hill, with Hill notching 27.75 for gold. That performance fell just .06 outside the national record of 27.69 she established at the 2023 Ulster Championships.
Finally, Hill also snagged the victory in the women’s 50m free, clocking 25.20 to come within .05 of her national record of 25.15 set at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Additional Notes
- Walshe topped the women’s 100m fly podium in the sole sub-minute outing of the field. The University of Tennessee swimmer clocked 58.47 (27.40/31.07) to get the job done. She owns the Irish national record with the 57.96 put up at the 2023 Irish Championships.
- Walshe also grabbed gold in the women’s 200m IM, earning the top spot in 2:12.90. That’s within a second of the 2:12.02 national record she logged at the 2021 Swim Ireland Performance Meet.
- 17-year-old John Shortt captured the victory in the men’s 200m back, hitting 1:58.48 to fall just .01 outside his personal best of 1:58.47 nabbed at this year’s World Championships.
- Speedster Tom Fannon was too quick to catch in the men’s 50m free, posting 22.39 as the winner.
About Retta Race
Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.