European champion Mona McSharry will go for gold at the World Championships in the US shortly after 11pm Irish time tonight.
The Grange youngster was the fastest qualifier in last night’s 50 metres breaststroke semi-finals in Indianapolis at the World Junior finals, in a time of 31.09 seconds.
The Marlins club member had finished third overall in winning her morning heat, but took over half-a-second off her time of 31.41 in the second round of heats to advance to the final and secure the centre lane.
McSharry holds the Irish Record in the event in 30.91 seconds.
The 17-year-old is top seed for the event, and will also compete in the 100 metre and 200 metre breaststroke competitions at the finals.
Just minutes later Conor Ferguson dominated his semi-final of the 100m Backstroke, the 17-year-old lead from start to finish in the race winning out by eight tenths of a second over American Drew Kibler (55.37) in 54.53 seconds.
The result puts Ferguson ranked second for tonight’s final behind Spain’s Hugo Gonzalez (54.43) and ahead of Romania’s Daniel Martin (54.62).
Finals at the World Junior Championships take place from 11pm Irish time tonight with Ferguson first up at 11.02pm and McSharry competing at 11.21pm.
Also in semi-final action last night at the World Juniors, Tallaght swimmer Niamh Coyne clocked 32.56 seconds in the 50m Breaststroke semi-final for 14th place overall.
