Duncan Scott & Jack McMillan Off to Winning Start at McCullagh International
Duncan Scott and Jack McMillan were among the winners on the first day of the McCullagh International at the Sport Ireland National Aquatic Centre in Dublin.
Scott was up in the 200 fly which the two-time Olympic 4×200 free champion dominated in 1:56.82 followed by Jack Cassin in 1:59.44 with the pair the only men to break two minutes. Edward Marcal Whittles rounded out the podium for bronze in 2:03.83.
Jack McMillan: Photo Courtesy: Team GB
McMillan, who won 4×200 free gold alongside Scott at the Singapore worlds, took on the 800 free, winning in 8:11.30 ahead of Swim Regio Solothurn’s Tobias Birrer in 8:30.31. National Centre Limerick’s Denis O’Brien won bronze in 8:34.62.
John Shortt won the 50 back in 25.32, the second fastest of his career 0.26 off his 25.06 PB en-route to bronze at the 2025 World Junior Championships where he also won the 100/200 backstroke double. Edinburgh University’s Scott Gibson won silver in 25.70 with Shortt’s National Centre Limerick team-mate Paddy Johnston taking bronze in 25.97.
Italian Federico Poggio, who trains at National Centre Dublin, won the men’s 100m breaststroke in 1:01.01. National Centre Limerick’s Eoin Corby won silver in 1:01.97 with bronze going to University of Stirling’s Rory Dickson in 1:02.74.
European U23 Champion Ellie McCartney claimed the title in the women’s equivalent. McCartney of National Centre Limerick held off Edinburgh University’s Kara Hanlon to win in 1:07.54 to 1:07.95. University of Limerick’s Eimear Doyle won bronze in 1:10.36.
Grace Davison of Ards was the only swimmer under 56 seconds in the women’s 100 free. Davison – who holds the Irish record of 54.00 – touched in 55.27 ahead of National Centre Ulster’s Rosalie Phelan (56.22) and University of Stirling’s Lucy Hope (56.52).
Arvin Chahal, another of the University of Stirling contingent with Scott and McMillan, took the men’s equivalent in 51.18 ahead of Dolphin’s Charlie Cassidy (51.26) and National Centre Limerick’s Cormac Rynn (51.48).
Ellie McCartney: Photo Courtesy: Swim Ireland
Keanna MacInnes, also of Stirling, cruised to victory in the 200 fly in 2:11.14 ahead of National Centre Ulster’s Alana Burns-Atkin (2:18.81) and Galway’s Muireann Carey (2:28.42).
In the tightest race of the night UCD’s Jena Macdougald won the women’s 50m backstroke in 29.06, just one hundredth of a second ahead of National Centre Ulster’s Lottie Cullen in 29.07. DSI’s Petra Halmai took bronze in 29.46.
Chloe Stewart of Bangor, 14, and 16-year-old Julia Dziedzic of Aer Lingus were separated by 0.14 in the 400IM. Stewart got the touch in 5:02.38 just ahead of Dziedzic’s 5:02.52. Swim England’s Lexie O’Connor won bronze in 5:04.92
Nina Mani of Swim Regio Solothurn won the first distance race of the weekend, clocking 18.00.24 in the women’s 1500 free.
Ards’ quartet of Davison, McCartney, Johnston, and Daniel Harvey set a new Irish club record of 3:58.47 in the mixed 4x100m medley relay and became the first Irish club to break the four-minute mark in the event.
UCD won the women’s 4×200 free in 8:40.13 with Limerick taking the men’s event in 7:54.58.