Mona McSharry breezes into Olympic 100m breaststroke semi-finals
At the Olympic Games in Paris, Mona McSharry set her second fastest time ever to ease into the semi-finals of the 100m breaststroke
Mona McSharry was just outside of her Irish record in booking a place at the women's 100m breaststroke semi-finals at the Olympic Games in Paris.
McSharry was just 0.11 of a second behind Chinese ace Qianting Tang in their heat at the Paris La Défense Arena.
McSharry finished second in 1:05.74 – just 0.19 off her Irish record from last year's World Aquatics Championships.
Out of lane 3, McSharry touched the wall in third and the Marlins Swimming Club, Ballyshannon graduate stayed stride-for-stride with Tang over the second length of the pool.
McSharry, who has just finished a kineseology degree at the University of Tennessee goes into the semi-finals as the third fastest qualifier overall and this represented the second fastest 100m breaststroke of her career.
Tang won the heat, the fifth of the preliminary round swims, in 1:05.63 with Italian star Benedetta Pilato third in 1:06.19.
McSharry's 1:05.55 personal best was clocked in the heats of the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Japan.
At the last edition of the Olympic Games, McSharry reached the 100m breaststroke final, finishing eighth in Tokyo.
Pilato, the 2022 World gold medalllist, was disqualified at the Olympic Games in Tokyo for an irregular kick
McSharry was in a tough heat that included the three medallists from the 2021 short course World Championships in Abu Dhabi: Qianting, Sweden's Sophia Hansson and McSharry.
In February at the World Aquatics Championship, Qianting set a new Chinese national record of 1:05.27 to win gold with McSharry fifth
McSharry will line up in the 100m breaststoke semi-finals this evening and the Grange, Co Sligo native also go in the heats of the 200m breaststroke on Wednesday.