Mona McSharry inches from medal in World final

Mona McSharry was inches from a medal when finishing fifth in the 100m breaststroke at the World Aquatics Championships.

McSharry was just 0.13 of a second from a medal in Fukuoka on Tuesday.

A day after breaking the Irish record and securing qualification for the Olympic Games, the Marlin’s Swimming Club graduate finished fifth in 1:06.07.

McSharry was in a medal position until the final strokes of the race.

Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte won gold in 1:05.62, while South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker
  was second in 1:05.84 while a 1:05.94 swim secured gold for United States swimming Lydia Jacoby.

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On Monday, McSharry confirmed her place at the 2024 Olympic Games with a massive new Irish record on Monday morning.

McSharry dipped under 1:06 for the first time, winning her heat in 1:05.55 before finishing in 1:05.96 in her semi-final.

That time booked a place on the plane to Paris for the Grange woman, who was a finalist in the 100m breaststroke at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. Then, she was the first Irish swimmer since Michelle Smith in 1996 to reach an Olympic final.

Monday’s swim in Japan was McSharry’s first time to break 1:06, lowering her own Irish record of 1:06.04 set at the recent Irish Open Swimming Championships.

The Tennessee-based McSharry took a clean sweep of the breaststroke gold medals, taking the 50m, 100m and 200m titles at the Irish Opens.

On Sunday, McSharry, alongside Erin Riordan, Danielle Hill and Victoria Catterson smashed the Irish 4x100m Freestyle Relay record of 3:44.37 in 3:41.75 for a 15th overall finish.