Following Daniel Wiffen’s gold medal swim last night, Irish swimmers continued the good form with both Mona McSharry and John Shortt progressing from heats to semi-finals, while Eoin Corby and Victoria Catterson had top twenty finishes in their events on day five in Doha.

McSharry, who placed fifth in the 100m Breaststroke Final on Tuesday, came out fighting this morning with a swim of 2:24.82, to win her heat and secure the second seed for this afternoon’s semi-final. McSharry’s time was just .32 of a second off her 2023 Irish record of 2:24.50.

Speaking after her race McSharry said ‘I’m really happy, you know that’s definitely my best morning swim ever and my second-best time, so it makes me really excited. The 200’s a tough one to put together and I’m happy that I was able to step up this morning and put together a good race and I think maybe the frustration from the 100m kind of pushed me to want to get over the hurdle of the 200m hurting and swim fast.’

While McSharry is already qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games in the 100m Breaststroke, the 23-year-old will need to achieve the Olympic Qualification Time of 2:23.91 to ensure she can swim the 200m Breaststroke in Paris, she said ‘Put my head down and that’s the goal (OQT), so anything else after that is going to be a great benefit, I’m only a second out with that swim so hopefully I can just chip a little bit away tonight’.

The Women’s 200m Breaststroke Final will take place at 5.19pm (IRL)

John Shortt, who turned seventeen last week, was impressive in the 200m Backstroke, advancing to his first senior international semi-final. Shortt touched in 1:59.27, just outside his Irish Record of 1:58.63.

‘I feel good, the time wasn’t great to be honest, I thought I was going to be much quicker than that, but I have a second swim so that’s good’ Shortt said ‘(This morning ) I think I was probably a bit too relaxed, a bit too easy or something and it wasn’t the time I thought I was going to go. I’m definitely a different swimmer than I was in Japan (2023 World Championships), this is probably a lot nicer of a competition than Japan was so I’m very happy with how I’m progressing.’

This afternoon’s swim will see Shortt target the Olympic Qualification Time of 1:57.50. The Men’s 200m Backstroke Semi-Final will take place at 5.33pm (IRL).

National Centre Dublin’s Eoin Corby, making his World Championships debut, was seventeenth overall in the 200m Breaststroke, missing the Semi-Final by just .38 of a second. The 22-year-old will be the first reserve for this afternoon’s Semi-Final.

Victoria Catterson had her second top twenty finish of the week in the 100m Freestyle. Catterson was nineteenth in this morning’s heats in 55.44 to close out her World Championships.

Daily reports will issue from Doha.

Results Day 5 Heats

Women 100m Freestyle                                 Victoria Catterson            55.44 (19th)

Men 200m Backstroke                                   John Shortt                      1:59.27 (16th)

Women 200m Breaststroke                           Mona McSharry                2:24.82 (2nd)

Men 200m Breaststroke                                Eoin Corby                        2:13.10 (17th)

 

Schedule – Day 5 Finals

Women 200m Breaststroke                         Mona McSharry                5.19pm (IRL)

Men 200m Backstroke                                   John Shortt                     5.33pm (IRL)