ELLEN WALSHE was disappointed to come eighth in the 400m Individual Medley in 4:40.70, some way outside her personal best of 4:37.18 and slower than her time of 4:39.97 in the semi-final.
Walshe said: “I think when you look at the overall outcome, like I’m Olympic finalist.
“I’ve never done that before, I‘ve never even raced in a Worlds final, long-course.
“I did really enjoy going out there. And I tried to kind of be like I need to enjoy this because I don’t know if there’s another one to come.
“I would have liked a stronger swim and I thought I had a little bit more in me then this morning.
“When athletes look at a picture, a lot of it’s ‘PBs, PBs’ and when you’re not getting that you kind of just feel like you probably failed a little bit.
“But an Olympic final is an amazing achievement, not many people do that.
“I probably don’t quite see it right now but hopefully in years and months to come I will.”
Walshe will also compete in the 200m Individual Medley heats on Friday and said: “There’s a lot of a lot of strong women in it.
“I’d be hopeful to hopefully make a semi-final in there and I’d be pretty happy with that.
“And 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 too.”
Danielle Hill came eighth in her 100m backstroke final, in a time of 1:00.80, some way short of her personal best of 59.11 set in Dublin in May. She will also compete in the 50m freestyle heats on Saturday.