Record-breaker Mona McSharry to skip European Championships after stellar World Cup

After a record-breaking period at three stops of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup, Mona McSharry will skip the European Aquatics Short Course Championships in December.

McSharry won five medals across the three weekends and set five Irish records in the same period.

The 25-year-old Olympic bronze medalist had a superb time with competitions in Carmel, Indiana and Westmont Illinois in the United States and Toronto, Canada.

Marlins Swimming Club ace McSharry will not be among the 13-strong Swim Ireland squad that will compete at the European Aquatics Championships from December 2-7 in Lublin, Poland. The Grange native has opted not to travel to take part.

Prior to 2025 only four medals had been won by Ireland on the World Cup circuit, including a silver and bronze by McSharry in Budapest in 2023.

McSharry’s Irish team-mate Ellen Walshe set six Irish records and won seven medals at the World Cup, including two gold, four silver and a bronze.

An Irish record of 29.58 seconds on Saturday night saw McSharry take the 50m breaststroke silver medal in Toronto.

In the process, McSharry took 0.01 of a second off her Irish short course record. At Westmont, she won the 50m gold when equalling her previous best of 29.59 set in 2021.

Belgian Florine Gaspard took gold at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre in 29.48 while Satomi Suzuki left with bronze, finishing in 29.90.

At stop two in Westmont, McSharry won gold in the 50m and silver in the 100m breaststroke events.

In Toronto, she took silver in both the 50m and 100m breaststroke, while she was the 200m bronze medallist.

On Thursday night, McSharry won bronze in the 200m, also in a new Irish record of 2:18.27 - her third time in the last three weeks to lower the national 200m mark. Kate Douglass of the USA won gold in 2:13.45 with Alex Walsh, another America, second in 2:17.88.

A day later, she lowered the Irish 100m breaststroke short course record to win a silver medal, finishing second in 1:03.84.

Douglass won gold in 1:02.93 with McSharry getting in ahead of Rebecca Meder (1:04.48) from South Africa for silver.

At the first stop of the World Cup series in Carmel, McSharry was fourth in both the 50m and 100m breaststroke events while she finished sixth in the 200m.

Earlier this year, Grange native 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.

Read next: Irwin brothers share podium at Sunflower Trophy Races

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.