Irish Open brings back 'a feel for it' again for Mona McSharry

It was a case of mission accomplished for Olympic bronze medallist Mona McSharry at the Irish Open Swimming Championships.

The Marlins Swimming Club ace won the 100m breaststroke final in 1:06.87, also sealing her place at this year’s World Championships. 

Back in the competitive groove again after a post-Olympic hiatus, McSharry was satisfied with her work at the National Aquatic Centre.

“It was pretty good,” the Grange native said. “The target was 1:07.20 so anything under that I would have been happy with. 

“That’s what I needed to do to get to the Worlds. That was the plan for this week: Getting back to racing long course and being able to qualify.”

McSharry came through as the second-fasted qualifier from the semi-finals with Ellie McCartney going through in 1:07.00. In the final, a battle between the two fastest women 100m breaststrokers in Irish swimming history, McSharry had 0.1 of a second to spare.

She said: “I think it’s much easier to swim fast when you’re racing against someone and they really push you. 

“I knew she was going to go out fast and when I saw her turn at the wall, I was like ‘right, we’re going to fight to the end’. I was excited that she was able to get a PB out of it as well.

“It’s good. It’s always nice to be in front of a home crowd. I don’t get to see them very often so I try to cherish it as much as I can when I’m here.”

The 2025 World Championships will take place in Singapore in July.

Last summer, on her way to Olympic bronze in Paris, McSharry clocked a new Irish record, 1:05.51. 

She said: “I just did my first week of long course training last week so we’re only at the start. Just being able to progress and kind of see how close I can get to my race times from last summer if not beat them.

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"It's definitely a good starting point, my first couple of races since the Olympics, so we're just kind of getting a feel for it again."