Mona McSharry is final-bound again at World Championships

A third world final beckons for Mona McSharry.

The 50m breaststroke final on Sunday at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha will include McSharry.

Fourth in her semi-final at the Aspire Dome, McSharry swam a length in 30.57 seconds.

The semi-final included world record holder Ruta Meilutyte, who breeze her way into the final in 29.42 seconds.

Benedetta Pilato of Italy was next in 29.91 with American Piper Enge third in 30.53.

In lane six, McSharry kicked late to get among the eight finalists, her time an exact replica of that swam by Veera Kivirinta from Finland in the first semi-fianl, won by Qiantig Tang, the 100m champion, in 29.80.

McSharry, who finished fifth in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke finals in Doha, now has her third crack at a world final in the space of six days.

“One length, just splash and dash,” was how McSharry described the 50m event after a fifth-place finish in Friday's 200m final – one of the fastest 200m breaststroke races of all time.

Her semi-final time was just 0.28 of a second from her 30.29 Irish record clocked at the 2023 Irish Open Championships.

McSharry finished her heat on Saturday morning in 30.72 seconds, 0.83 seconds off the swift Pilato, the fastest qualifier in 29.89 seconds.

McSharry had been aiming for an Olympic qualifying time in the 200m, but the 2:23.91 eluded her.

In Friday's final, McSharry finished in 2:24.89 with the 2:19.81 set by the impressive victor, Tes Schouten seeing the Dutchwoman go eighth in the all-time list.

At the end of March, McSharry will go again at the Ramsey Centre at University of Georgia in the NCAA Championships. The Grange woman will graduate in kinesiology from University of Tennessee before turning her mind to Paris and the Olympic Games.

McSharry has already booked a place on the 100m breaststroke list. At the last Olympiad in Tokyo, she was fifth in her favoured event.