Walshe's Late Charge Denies Teenage Smith in European 400m IM Thriller
Ireland's Ellen Walshe overtook Britain's 16-year-old Amalie Smith in the final 25 metres to win the women's 400m individual medley at the European Aquatics Championships in Paris.
Smith, the reigning European junior champion in the event, had led for almost the entire race. Walshe, 23, closed the gap on the freestyle leg — the last of four strokes in a medley — and got her hand to the wall first to claim gold. The winning time has not yet been confirmed in published results, but Walshe's entry time of 4:35.32 suggested she arrived in Paris capable of contending. Smith's entry time of 4:35.18 was the fastest in the field.
The 400m individual medley is swimming's decathlon: 100 metres each of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle, in that order, testing every aspect of a swimmer's craft. European Aquatics
For Smith, silver marks a remarkable rise. She retained her European junior 400m IM title in Munich earlier this season before stepping up to the senior European stage. A 16-year-old leading a continental final into the closing length is rare enough. Holding off a seasoned international for the full distance is another matter entirely.
Walshe has been building towards a moment like this for several seasons. At the Lublin 2025 European Short Course Championships — held in a 25-metre pool, where turns come twice as often — she won 200m IM gold for Ireland and picked up a relay silver. She also took 200m IM gold at the European U23 Championships in 2023. Paris is her first major long-course (50-metre pool) continental title.
The heats had told a slightly different story. Poland's Justyna Kozan topped qualifying in 4:40.47, with Smith second in 4:40.56. Walshe qualified fourth in 4:41.76 — well off her entry time but safely through. SwimSwam
For context on where European swimming sits in the global picture: Summer McIntosh of Canada holds the world record at 4:23.65, set in 2025. Katinka Hosszu of Hungary owns the European record at 4:26.36. The Paris finalists were racing some 15 seconds shy of the world mark — a reminder of how far the continent's best still trail the sport's absolute peak in this event.
The final 25 metres decided everything. Smith, who had looked in control through the breaststroke leg, could not match Walshe's closing freestyle speed. Whether the teenager learns from this and comes back faster may define her season. For Walshe, gold in Paris is the culmination of steady progress across short-course, age-group and now senior long-course racing — delivered when it mattered, in the last length.
