A super impressive opening swim by Mona McSharry inside the Paris La Défense Arena on Sunday morning has sent her coolly and confidently into the semi-finals of the 100 metres breaststroke later today, her time of 1:05.74 plenty good enough for second place in the last of the five Olympics heats.
Only China’s reigning world champion Tang Qianting got the better of her, the 20-year-old touching home in 1:05.63, though McSharry appeared amplty satisfied with her effort, which was just short of her Irish record of 1:05.55 set last year.
Tatjana Smith from South Africa was the fastest qualifier of the lot when winning the fourth heat in 1:05.00, but McSharry was the third fastest overall, and the swim gives her great hope of progressing to the final later this evening (8.10pm Irish time).
Starting in lane three, Tang beside her lane four, McSharry was third at the halfway mark, before finishing brilliantly in the last 50m to close right up on her Chinese opponent.
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The 23-year-old from Sligo became the first Irish swimmer since Michelle de Bruin to make an Olympic final when she progressed to the 100m breaststroke final in Tokyo, where she finished eighth in 1:06.94.
She’s clearly come to Paris in excellent form, dipping under 1:06.00 here for the first time this year. At the World Championships in Doha in February, she was fifth in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke finals, missing a 100m medal by just 0.5 of a second.
In June she also qualified for a second event in Paris by smashing her Irish 200m record by over two seconds, clocking 2:22.49.
More to follow…
