Mona McSharry named The Irish Times/Sport Ireland Sportswoman for October

There’s no rest for Mona McSharry. She’d barely got her breath back after winning silver and bronze medals at the third round of the World Cup in Budapest last month when she was back in action for the University of Tennessee. And her workload – and travelling – doesn’t appear to be hurting her form.

From last Friday: “Olympian Mona McSharry earned two individual wins in Tennessee’s double dual against Florida and Kentucky in Knoxville...McSharry swept the breast events with a sub-minute performance of 59.65 in the 100 breast and a 2:12.68 mark in the 200 breast.” Good going.

It’s been another successful year for the 23-year-old Sligo woman who has already booked her spot at next summer’s Olympic Games having made her debut in Tokyo in 2021 where she exceeded all expectations by reaching the 100m breaststroke final.

Back in August, she won a hat-trick of gold medals at the European Under-23 Swimming Championships in Dublin, signing off on her final year at that age level in style. By then, she had secured Olympic qualification when she set an Irish record in the 100m breaststroke at the World Aquatics Championship in Japan.

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Agonisingly, she missed out on a bronze in the final by just 0.13 of a second when she was aiming to become the first Irish swimmer to win a medal in the long-course championships, having won bronze in the World short-course event in 2021. The company she was keeping was some consolation, though, the four swimmers who finished ahead of her all Olympic gold medal winners.

“It’s all a learning experience,” she said, “and when I look at the people I finished behind – world champions, record holders, Olympic champions – to be up there and racing against them and have it be such a close race is giving me a great confidence boost.

“I think it’s great to be able to practice racing against those people for the Olympics next year because that’s the main goal in my mind. It’s just training and preparing for that meet, so look it’s a great result, fifth in the world, I can’t be too upset with it.”

She couldn’t be too upset either when she was beaten to second in the 50m breaststroke in Budapest, the winner, Italy’s Benedetta Pilato, a former world record holder in the event. Pilato also won the 100m breaststroke, McSharry taking bronze, finishing .03 of a second behind the Netherlands’ Tes Schouten. The finest of margins.

And then it was back to Tennessee where her work, in and out of the pool, continued. The months ahead will be no less busy, there’s the small matter of an Olympic Games to prepare for.

Previous Monthly Winners (the awards run from December 2022 to November 2023, inclusive): December: Eilish and Roisin Flanagan (Athletics); January: Rhasidat Adeleke (Athletics); February: Orla Prendergast (Cricket); March: Rachael Blackmore (Horse racing); April: Thammy Nguyan (Weightlifting); May: Lucy Mulhall (Rugby); June: Leona Maguire (Golf); July: Katie McCabe (Soccer); August: Katie-George Dunlevy (Cycling) and Hannah Tyrrell (Gaelic football); September: Ciara Mageean (Athletics) and Siobhán McCrohan (Rowing).