Magical Mona McSharry makes it a golden hat-trick

Mona McSharry made it a hat-trick of golds when winning the 200m breaststroke final at the European Under-23 Swimming Championships.

On Sunday, McSharry added the 200m gold to the 100m breaststroke and 50m breaststroke golds won on the previous two evenings.

McSharry led from start to finish in the 200m final in front of a boisterous home support at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin.

A graduate of the Ballyshannon-based Marlins Swimming Club, McSharry, a native of Grange, won in 2:25.49.

Gold on the dozen for Donegal athletes at National Masters Championships

Four athletes from Donegal clubs won two golds on a successful afternoon at the National Masters Championships in Tullamore on Saturday

McSharry, the fastest qualifier from Sunday’s heats in 2:27.27, powered off the board and took command of the final, going through 100m in 1:09.35, over a second in front at that stage.

Great Britain’s Elizabeth Booker took silver in 2:26.37 with Croatian Ana Blazevic claiming bronze in 2:26.61.

After topping the pile in the 50m and 100m, McSharry was aiming for a clean sweep of the breaststroke golds.

“I was a bit nervous going into it,” an ecstatic McSharry said. “The crowd really spurred me on.

“I just had to go for it. If we died we died, but at least we gave it everything.

“It’s all for these moments.  Sometimes you question ‘why do I push myself’, but it’s to feel like that in the water: gliding on the water and on top of the world.”

On Saturday, won the 100m breaststroke final in 1:06.69, with just 0.01 of a second to spare.

McSharry touched the wall with millimetres between the Grange woman and Kaitlyn Dobler from the United States, who clocked 1:06.70. Anita Bottazzo from Italy was third in 1:07.17, taking the silver medal with Dobler unable to medal, while Clara Rybak-Andersen from Denmark bagged bronze in 1:08.12.

McSharry, who was also 13th overall in the 50m freestyle, put her strong kick to ‘genetics’ and added: “I love doing a lot of explosive and strength work in the gym.”

On Friday evening she took the 50m breaststroke gold racing home in 30.37 seconds in the first finals of these Championships.

It has been a superb period for the 22-year-old University of Tennessee student.

At the World Championships, McSharry was just 0.13 of a second from a 100m breaststroke medal, but qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games when going 1:05.55.