Golden girl: Mona McSharry wins 50m breaststroke gold at Swimming World Cup

Mona McSharry equalled her Irish short course record to win gold in the 50m breaststroke at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup.

At Westmont, Illinois, McSharry swam an excellent 29.59 seconds to land gold in the early hours of Monday.

McSharry’s time levelled her Irish record set back in December 2021.

The Marlins Swimming Club ace, who bagged silver in the 100m breaststroke event 24 hours earlier, won from Israel swimmer Anastasia Gorbenko, who finished in 29.66.

Florine Gaspard of Belgium touched the wall in 29.70 for bronze.

The Olympic Games bronze medallist earned a silver from the 100m breaststroke when she finished in 1:04.18 for second behind the winner, Kate Douglass from the USA.

Douglass won in 1:03.14 while Alex Walsh, another American, was third in 1:04.45.

McSharry was fifth after 25m, but pushed into second by the midway point and stayed there to the end.

This was the second of a three-stop series in the Swimming World Cup.

Grange native McSharry broke the Irish short course record on Friday night on her way to finishing fourth in the 200m breaststroke, finishing in 2:19.29.

Douglass also won the 200m, clocking 2:14.57. Walsh (2:18.54) and South African Rebecca Meder (2:18.88) were second and third.

Read next: Danny Duffy seals emotional win and targets title fight in Donegal

Earlier this year, McSharry exited the 100m breaststroke at the World Aquatics Championships at the semi-final phase and had to skip the 200m due to a stomach bug. 

In her 100m semi-final at the Singapore Sports Hub, McSharry finished in 1:06.33 having won her heat in 1:05.99 and missed out on a final spot.

In 2024, McSharry won Olympic 100m breaststroke bronze in Paris. 

The three-stop series of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup will conclude in Toronto on October 23-25. 

Last weekend, McSharry was fourth in both the 50m and 100m breaststroke events while she finished sixth in the 200m.