Fifth for Mona McSharry in World 100m breaststroke final

Mona McSharry missed a medal when finishing fifth in the 100m breaststroke final at the World Aquatics Championships.

At the Aspire Dome in Doha, McSharry was coming to go where no Irish swimmer has ever gone before - onto the World Championships podium - but finished half-a-second outside the medal positions.

McSharry clocked 1:06.42 wth China’s Qianting Tang winning gold in 1:05.27. It is her second fifth-place finish at the World Championships having had a similar finish at the 2023 edition.

Dutch swimmer Tes Schouten earned silver in 1:05.82 and Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey, the daughter of an Irishman, Darach, and a grand-niece of former Taoiseach Charles Haughey, took bronze in 1:05.92 

McSharry, who cut her teeth in the water at the Ballyshannon Leisure Centre with the Marlin’s Swimming Club, was fifth on the turn at 50m and was unable to claw back the deficit, having done so in both her heat and semi-final.

A native of Grange in County Sligo, McSharry, whose Irish record stands at 1:05.55, was in lane 5 having earned a coveted middle lane draw through her semi-final, when she advanced as the second fastest qualifier.

Tang, the gold medallist in the World Short Course Championships in 2021, continued her impressive week with a storming display and a new personal best for gold.

Ireland has never before won a medal at these Championships.

At the World Short Course Championships, held in a 25-metre pool, there have been three previously, including McSharry’s 100m breaststroke bronze in Abu Dhabi in 2021. Ellen Walsh grabbed silver in the 400m individual medley in 2021 and Shane Ryan a 50m backstroke bronze in 2018

When finishing fifth in the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, McSharry was inches - or 0.13 seconds in the currency of time swimmers deal in - from a medal.

The Irish record of 1:05.55 set in her semi-final in Japan last year secured her place at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. McSharry was eighth in the 100m breaststroke final at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021.

On Monday morning, McSharry eased through her heat, finishing in 1:06.49. She was second in her heat and the third fastest qualifier overall.

In the semi-final, McSharry breeze through, coming second in 1:06.11 with only Tang’s 1:05.36 faster.

McSharry is also slated for the 50m and 200m breaststroke events this week in Doha.