Golden Girl: Mona McSharry takes European U23 gold

Mona McSharry won gold in the 50m breaststroke at the European Under-23 Swimming Championships.

McSharry raced for gold in 30.37 seconds at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin.

Having reached the final in the 100m breaststroke final at the recent World Aquatics Championships in Japan, McSharry returned home to Ireland with her confidence soaring.

McSharry, who cut her teeth with the Marlins Swimming Club in Ballyshannon, came through her heat on Friday morning in a fuss-free 30.66 seconds.

In the final, McSharry took the first gold of the Championships with Italy’s Anita Bottazzo second in 30.59 seconds and Kaitlyn Dobler, a native of the United States, coming home in joint third with Norway’s Silje Slyngstadli.

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McSharry - a student at the University of Tennessee - is one of 14 Irish swimmers in action at the Championships.

At the World Championships recently, McSharry sealed her place at next year’s Olympic Games when setting a new Irish 100m breaststroke record of 1:05.55 - the first time the Grange woman dipped below 1:06.

In the final, she was an agonising 0.13 of a second off a medal and also finished 11th in the 50m breaststroke and 15th in the 200m breaststroke.