Irish shearer Ivan Scott has finished third in the World Speed Shear event in New Zealand at the World Shearing Championships.

The Co. Donegal man made it to the semi-final stage before he was knocked out, as two New Zealand shearers contested the final.

The World Shearing Championships is currently being held at the ILT Stadium, Invercargill in New Zealand.

Scott finished outside the top two by less than half a second, with a time of 21.24 seconds.

Kiwi shearers Jack Fagan and Paerata Abraham contested the final, with Fagan eventually coming out on top in an event that had 100 competitors in the first heat.

Meanwhile, the Irish shearer is also competing in both the World Machine Shearing and All-Nations Open Shearing events.

He finished sixth in the final of the All-Nations Open Shearing event, behind a group of five Kiwi shearers, which took place on Thursday, February 10.

Scott is also performing well in the World Machine Shearing event, finishing in fourth position in the second round, an event in which another Irish Shearer named Stanley Allingham is also taking part.

The semi-final and final of this event is scheduled to go ahead on Saturday, February 11.

World Record Breaker

Scott made headlines last year when he set a new world record for the most lambs sheared in the space of nine hours.

The Co. Donegal man managed to shear 867 lambs in nine hours, breaking the previous record by just one lamb which had been set by New Zealander Dion King in 2007.

In so doing, Scott became the first shearer from the northern hemisphere to set the record for the number of lambs shorn.

His total of 867 lambs worked out at 96.33 lambs an hour, or one ever 37.37 seconds, with each lamb being required to have at least 3kg of wool.

Scott also beat the Guinness World Record for the fastest time to shear a sheep on the opening episode of RTÉ’s Big Week on the Farm in April 2016.