Donegal swimmer honoured at at Sportswoman Awards

Donegal swimmer Mona McSharry, who had a magnificent year in 2019, was honoured at the annual Irish Times Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year Awards which were held in Dublin at the weekend.

McSharry won the Sportswoman of the Month Award for last December, after claiming six titles in the space of three days at the Irish Short-Course Championships in Lisburn.

As well as collecting titles in the 50, 100, and 200m freestyle, 100 and 200m individual medley and 100m breaststroke, she broke six national records.

The highlight for McSharry, who’s a member of the Marlins Swimming Club in Ballyshannon, was the breaking of Michelle Smith’s 23-year-old 100m freestyle record.

Nineteen-year-old McSharry, who was also a contestant in this year’s RTE series Ireland’s Fittest Family, brought that excellent form to the European Short Course Championships in Glasgow earlier this month.

She won a bronze in the 50m breaststroke before going on to be the fastest qualifier in the final of her favoured event the 100m breaststroke. Unfortunately, she just missed out on a second medal by 0.4 of a second in that final.

She was upbeat after the swim, admitting she was still learning how to best swim that race.

“It was a great race yesterday in the semi-final and it would have been nice to repeat that, but I’m still learning,” she told RTÉ.

“Every time I get in there, I swim it differently, so I’m still trying to figure out what works for me, but I’m overall happy with how this week has gone.”