Mona McSharry has won a bronze medal for Ireland in the final of the women’s 100m breaststroke at the World Short Course Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi.
She swam a new Irish record time of 1:03:92 to finish third behind Qianting Tang of China.
It was an impressive swim by the Grange woman who was fourth at the halfway stage – and then worked her way into third place in the final 25 metres.
She was just four hundredths of a second behind Sweden’s Sophie Hansson, who took silver.
“I knew I had the potential to medal and it’s really nice to see that all come together in a race,” said a pleased McSharry after the race.
It’s Ireland’s second medal of these World Championships with McSharry’s fellow University of Tennessee college mate Ellen Walsh winning silver in the 400m individual medley last Thursday.
McSharry’s bronze medal is the latest achievement in a stellar year for the Sligo woman, who in Tokyo became the first Irish swimmer since Atlanta in 1996 to qualify for an Olympic final.
