New World junior swim champ John Shortt will go for gold again on Friday - after getting his Leaving Cert results earlier the same day! Shortt, 18, has qualified for tomorrow's 50m Backstroke final in the World Aquatics Junior Championships in Romania, having won the 100m Backstroke final yesterday. In doing so the Galwegian, who is targeting the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, became only the second Irish swimmer to top the podium at the grade after Mona McSharry eight years ago. READ MORE: Roy Keane and Gary Neville tell all on their Manchester United contracts READ MORE: 'The best news' - Stephen Bradley reacts to son Josh's all-clear after three-year battle with leukaemia Shortt returned to the pool this morning and came through his opening heat before producing a PB swim of 25.36 in this afternoon's semi-final, placing him fifth in his heat and seventh overall. It means he has his work cut out to get on the podium again but Shortt will have had an extra day to recover from his gold-medal winning achievement. He will also discover how he fared in the Leaving Cert, which he sat at the start of the summer. Shortt moved to Limerick to train at one of Swim Ireland's national centres a few years ago and enrolled in Castletroy College, which is close to where he trains at the UL campus' 50m pool under coach John Szaranek. Shortt previously described juggling his training with his Leaving Cert studies as 'super-stressful', but said he made the right move by leaving Galway for Limerick for his swimming career. “It was not a hard decision,” he said. “UL is the best spot for me at the minute. I viewed my happiness as more important than swimming. A happy swimmer is a fast swimmer and I knew Limerick was where I’m happiest. "I also trust my coach so much. He’s done so much for me over the past two and a bit years, and all the guys down there, I love them to death.” Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email.