Sligo’s Mona McSharry swam her way to a bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke final at the World Short Course Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi. The University of Tennessee student powered home in record time with a new Irish Senior record of 1:03.92.
This was McSharry’s FIFTH Irish record in her six races at the FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships having set new records in the 50m breaststroke and the 100m Individual Medley – where she became the first Irish woman to swim the event in under a minute with a time of 59.65.
In the summer, the Tokyo Olympian became the first Irish swimmer to make an Olympic final for 25 years and now she has capped off a remarkable season with a bronze medal at the World Championships alongside three new Irish Senior records.
The 20-year-old is trailblazing for Irish swimming at the moment and in 2017, became the first Irish swimmer to win a Junior World Championship gold medal. She has now marked this with Ireland’s second medal of the 2021 World Championships after Ellen Walshe won silver in the 400m Individual Medley.
After McSharry's performance at the Olympics, Swim Ireland teammate Brendan Hyland compared her work-ethic to Cristiano Ronaldo.
Walshe secured her FIFTH Irish record at the World Championships after swimming 56.68 in the 100m Butterfly Semi-Final.
