Mona McSharry breaks Irish 200m breaststroke record overnight in Vancouver

Mona McSharry shaved over two seconds off her Irish 200m breaststroke record.

The Marlins Swimming Club graduate dipped to 2:22.49 at the Mel Zajac Jr International Swim Meet in Vancouver, Canada.

McSharry clocked 2:22.49 in the preliminaries before winning the final in 2:22.68.

The new record takes 2.01 seconds off her previous best, the 2:24.50 clocked at the Glasgow International Swim Meet in 2023.

McSharry, a native of Grange, won the final from Sophie Angus (2:31.09) and Alexanne Lepage (2:31.26).

McSharry's time was the 12th fastest in the world so far in 2024 and put her in top-five-performer category. It would also, at the moment, put her firmly in the picture for the Olympic Games final in the 200m.

The Irish Championships and Olympic trials concluded in May, but the official qualifying window was still open when McSharry lowered the record so technically could still add the event.

McSharry has already qualified in the 100m breaststroke, booking her place while competing at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka.

McSharry, representing the University of Tennessee, also won the 100m breaststroke final in Vancouver, going 1:06.44 having clocked 1:06.32 in the preliminaries, again seeing off the challenge of Angus and Lepage.