Mona McSharry came agonisingly close to winning Ireland’s first ever world long course medal at the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan this afternoon, ultimately touching in fifth place in the 100m breaststroke Final.
The 22-year-old Sligo native clocked 1:06.07 and was just 0.13 of a second off the bronze medal. In a stacked field, McSharry came home behind four Olympic gold medallists including 2012 Olympic champion Ruta Meilutyte from Lithuania, who took gold in 1:04.62, Tokyo 2020 200m breaststroke champion Tatjana Schoenmaker of South Africa in 1:05.84, Tokyo Olympic champion in the 100m Breaststroke Lydia Jacoby of the USA in 1:05.94, and Rio 2016 gold medallist and world record holder in the event Lily King of the USA in 1:06.02.
Mona McSharry finishes fifth in the 100m breaststroke final at the World Aquatics Championships. She was in the medal positions up until the final strokes of the race. pic.twitter.com/BFnu5op8dx
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) July 25, 2023
McSharry swam inside the Olympic qualification time for Paris 2024 three times in the past two days. That included setting a new Irish record of 1:05.55 in the heat.
"I think looking at it, it’s obviously a little painful," she said, "especially not swimming fastest in the final hurts, but it’s all learning experience and when I look at the people that came ahead of me, world champions, record holders, Olympic champions, so to be up there and racing against them and have it be such a close race is giving me a great confidence boost.
"I just have to carry on to the rest of the events this week and not let it take me down. I think it’s great to be able to practice racing against those people for the Olympics next year because that’s the main goal in my mind, it’s just training and preparing for that meet, so look it’s a great result, fifth in the world, I can’t be too upset with it."
McSharry returns to the pool on Thursday for the 200m breaststroke heats.
Tomorrow, Danielle Hill returns to the pool for the 50m backstroke, Shane Ryan makes his championship debut in the 100m freestyle and after qualifying from this morning’s heats Daniel Wiffen, who swam the Olympic qualification time in a new Irish record of 7:43.81, will compete in the 800m freestyle final at 12.02pm (Irish time).
𝟱𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗠𝗰𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝘆
Mona McSharry clocked 1:06.07 in the 100 Breaststroke Final to finish fifth in the World 🌍
It was another superb performance from the Sligo native, who was right in the mix for podium places with just .13 behind bronze! pic.twitter.com/fFoY3CbOEW— Swim Ireland (@swimireland) July 25, 2023
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