Record-breaking week for Mona McSharry tees up World Championships bid

Mona McSharry still feels like she has to pinch herself.

The Marlin’s Swimming Club star broke two Irish records and set three new Championship bests this week at the Irish Open Swimming Championships.

The 22-year-old was a 100m breaststroke finalist at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and now she’s targeting next year’s Games in Paris.

On Wednesday, McSharry won the 200m breaststroke in a new Championship record of 2:25.70.

It completed a clean sweep of breaststroke golds for the Grange woman at the Sport Ireland National Aquatic Centre.

McSharry took her 50m breaststroke record down to 30.29 seconds, having gone 30.56 seconds earlier this year in Knoxville.

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The 100m gold was bagged when lowering her own Irish record to 1:06.04 from a previous best of 1:06.29.

“It has been a great meet,” McSharry said. “I didn’t know what to expect, but I’m really happy.”

In July, McSharry will go to Fukuoka in Japan for the World Aquatics Championships, which offer a chance to secure Olympic qualifying times.

A student at the University of Tennessee, McSharry was racing in Ireland for the first time in two years and was the star attraction.

She said: “It’s definitely an overload this week of just seeing kids who want to get my autograph or picture.

“It is really nice to show them that this is what you can do.

“I don’t even believe it myself sometimes where I am, but it’s really exciting to be able to show them what they can do if they put their heads down and go for it. It means a lot to me.”