Seventh for Mona McSharry in 50m breaststroke final

Mona McSharry finished seventh in the final of the 50m breaststroke at the European Aquatics Championships.

McSharry touched the wall in 31.15 seconds at the Foro Italico in Roma.

The 50m breaststroke final was the Marlins Swimming Club graduate’s third final of these Championships.

Rūta Meilutytėfrom Lithuania won gold in 29.59 seconds.

Italian Benedetta Pilato took silver in 29.71 seconds with Great Britain’s Imogen Clark claiming bronze, finishing in 30.31 seconds.

McSharry qualified for the final when swimming 30.90 seconds on Wednesday - just 0.03 of a second off her Irish record. The 21-year-old McSharry was the seventh fastest of the qualifiers.

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In Monday’s 200m breaststroke final, McSharry - accompanied to Rome by Marlin’s coach Grace Meade - finished seventh in 2:26.96.

“I think I let myself get a little bit excited and just went out a little hard in the first 100m,” McSharry said.

“I paid the price the second 100m, but look, that’s the cost of learning.”

On Saturday, McSharry was fifth in the 100m breaststroke final and was frustrated at missing out on a medal when clocking 1:07.14.

Her 100m breaststroke semi-final time, 1:06.44, would have been enough to get on the podium.

Afterwards, she said: “I put high expectations on myself and that’s not really where I wanted to be.”

A student at University of Tennessee, McSharry won bronze medal at the 2021 World Short-Course Championships in Abu Dhabi, claiming third in the 100m breaststroke final having reached the 100m breaststroke final at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.