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Mona McSharry finishes fifth in European Championships breaststroke final

‘I put high expectations on myself and that’s not really where I wanted to be tonight’

Mona McSharry after the 100m breaststroke final at the European Swimming Championships in Rome. Photograph: Andrea Staccioli/Inpho
Mona McSharry after the 100m breaststroke final at the European Swimming Championships in Rome. Photograph: Andrea Staccioli/Inpho
Sat Aug 13 2022 - 19:57

Ireland’s Mona McSharry finished in fifth place in the European Championships 100m breaststroke final in Rome on Saturday evening.

Speaking to RTE afterwards the Tokyo 2020 finalist said: “I put high expectations on myself and that’s not really where I wanted to be tonight, it would have been nice to go another 1:06 but that’s the way the cards fall sometimes, and I did all I could.”

McSharry, who entered the final as the third seed, touched in 1:07.14.

The gold and silver medals went to Italy’s Benedetta Pilato (1:05.97) and Lisa Angilioni (1:06.34) with Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte taking bronze in 1:06.50.

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McSharry returns to the pool on Sunday: “The 200m is tomorrow morning, so it’s really going to be a quick turnaround, I’ll go back, get some food and sleep and mentally prepare for the next couple of days, that’s how you’re going to get an edge on your competitors now, we’re all doing the same events, we’re all getting up tomorrow morning so there’s nothing different for any of us.”

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In the 50m backstroke semi-final, Danielle Hill clocked 28.54, the exact same time as this morning, and moved up a ranking place to 14th overall. The Tokyo Olympian is back in the pool for the 50m freestyle and 100m backstroke heats on Monday.

In the 200m breaststroke semi-final Darragh Greene finished in 13th place overall in 2:12.73. Greene will be in action again on Monday in the 50m breaststroke heats.

On Sunday, McSharry will be joined by Ellie McCartney and 100m breaststroke semi-finalist Niamh Coyne in the 200m breaststroke. Finn McGeever makes his first appearance of the championships in the 200m freestyle with Robbie Powell. Shane Ryan competes in the 50m backstroke while Grace Hodgins will swim the 1,500m freestyle.