Local swimmer Shortt captures two gold medals at World Junior Championships
JOHN Shortt confirmed his status as Ireland’s greatest-ever junior swimmer after capturing two world titles at the World Junior Championships in Romania last week – as well as taking bronze in a third final – to end his season in stunning fashion.
The city native went into the meet on the back of impressive displays in senior World Aquatics Championships in Singapore last month, and he stamped his authority all over the backstroke discipline last week when winning both the 100m and 200m world titles, and taking bronze in the 50m.
Shortt opened his account when taking gold in the 100m on Wednesday evening, coming home in a time of 53.86secs, just .08 of a second ahead of silver medallist, neutral athlete Georgii Iakovlev in 53.94; while the USA’s Gavin Keogh took bronze in 54.06.
That means the Roscam swimmer (18) – who began his swimming career with Bluefin Swimming Club in Kilcornan in Clarinbridge before moving to the National Training Centre in Limerick – is now both the reigning European and World champion, having also won the 100m backstroke at the 2025 European Aquatics Championships in Slovakia back in early July.
He didn’t have long to bask in this world title as he was back in the pool last Thursday morning for the heat of the 50m backstroke, and he came through the morning qualifier and evening semi-final to qualify for Friday night’s final.
Shortt had skipped the 50m at the World Championships in Singapore three weeks ago, but he crowned his involvement last week when claiming a brilliant bronze in 25.06 seconds, lowering the lifetime best of 25.36 that he swam in Thursday’s semi-final.
That saw him match Mona McSharry’s record of being the only other Irish World Junior Champion in swimming – the Sligo swimmer and Paris Olympic bronze medallist from last year won 100m breaststroke gold and 50m breaststroke bronze in the USA in 2017.
Iakovlev and Italy’s Daniele del Signore finished in a dead heat to both be awarded gold medals in that 50m final last week; but Shortt cemented his place as the star of the meet when claiming a second world title on Sunday, taking gold in his favoured event, the 200m backstroke, to put him as the Ireland’s stand-out junior swimmer on the world stage.
The top eight swimmers from Sunday morning’s heats went straight through to that evening’s final, and Shortt showed his class from the start to finish in a time of 1min 57.53secs, his fourth fastest time ever, and almost two seconds ahead of second seed David Melnuchuk of the USA in 1:59.31m to take the top seeding for the final.
All the pressure was on Shortt, but despite a busy schedule and the weight of expectation, he dominated the final from start to finish, going almost two seconds quicker than his heat time as he clocked 1:56.19, a new Irish Senior, and Junior record, breaking the 1:56.61 he swam at the Irish Open in April. del Signore won silver in a time of 1:57.99, with bronze went to the USA’s David Melnychuk in 1:58.13.
“It’s been a long season, but to end it on such a high with a big pb [personal best], I couldn’t be happier. Having my family, my coaches, my teammates here, it’s just been amazing, and I’ve loved every bit of it,” Shortt said after the race.
It has been an incredible year for Shortt. As well as winning gold in the 100m backstroke in Slovakia, he also won bronze in the 200m backstroke; while he reached the semi-finals of the 200m backstroke at the Worlds Aquatics Championships in Singapore three weeks ago.
“The first 100 I was like ‘this is cool’, ‘this is great’,” he said of Sunday’s 200m final, “and the last 50 I was like ‘ow this really hurts, please make it stop’, but then I was at the wall nd I realised I’d won and that was class’,” he said, before highlighting the importance of World Junior Championships experience for upcoming mayor senior meets.
“It’s everything, because, you know, once you get to those really big finals, like Worlds or the Olympics, you need to be able to call on from these experiences and know that you can perform under pressure.
“After a really good swim this morning, I knew I’d put myself in a position where I could do something really special tonight, and that’s what happened,” said the double world champion.
Pictured: Galway's John Shortt shows his delight after winning a second goal medal at the World Junior Swimming Championships in Romania last week.