Ireland’s Mona McSharry bowed out of the Women’s 200m Breaststroke at the semi-final stage and closed out the event ranked fifteenth in the world.

McSharry, who was fifth in the 100m Breaststroke Final on Tuesday and has secured an Olympic Qualification Time, started strongly and was in the mix in fifth place at the 150m mark, but a charge from those around her saw McSharry eighth by 200 metres in 2:26.27, faster than her heat swim of 2:26.59 and up one place in the rankings.

Speaking after the race McSharry said ‘I’m confused, I need to see the splits and stuff before I can figure out what happened I guess. It felt better than this morning, but roughly the same time, I’m quite happy with how I’m taking it out I think, so just look at the positives and hopefully build on it and this is just the first opportunity to qualify it (for Paris 2024), so hopefully I can get it before the Olympics rolls around.’

Tokyo Olympic Champion Tatijana Schoenmaker was the top qualifier from the semi-finals in 2:21.31.

McSharry returns to the pool on Saturday for the 50m Breaststroke Heats, a non-Olympic event ‘I’m excited to move to something a little bit shorter, a little bit more relaxed, no pressure really, just get out there and race and do a bit of high intensity stuff before we go for the relay on Sunday, so it should be fun’.

Tomorrow will see World Championship debuts for Max McCusker and Tom Fannon; McCusker goes in the 100m Butterfly and Fannon in the 50m Freestyle, while Danielle Hill returns to the pool for the 50m Butterfly heats.

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Thursday 27th July Results

Women 100m Freestyle                                       Victoria Catterson                    55.56 (26th)

Men 200m Backstroke                                         John Shortt                              1:59.79 (22nd)

Women 200m Breaststroke                                Mona McSharry                        2:26.59 (16th)     SF 2:26.27

Men 200m Breaststroke                                      Darragh Greene                       2:12.21 (18th)

 

Friday 27th July Schedule

Men 100m Butterfly                                               Max McCusker                          2:32am (Ireland)

Men 50m Freestyle                                                Tom Fannon                               3:12am (Ireland)

Women 50m Butterfly                                          Danielle Hill                                 3:39am (Ireland)

 

The World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka is the first of three opportunities for Irish swimmers to secure individual Olympic places, the second being the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar in February 2024, and the third being the Irish Open Swimming Championships in May 2024.

For relays, the top three teams in Olympic relay events in Fukuoka will confirm places for Paris, with the remaining thirteen teams coming from the top times in Fukuoka and the Doha World Aquatics Championships.

Swimming at the World Aquatics Championships will take place from Sunday 23rd to Sunday 30th July.