Mona McSharry 'gutted' after disappointing world final performance
GUTTED: Mona McSharry of Ireland after finishing fifth in the women's 100 metres breaststroke final at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha. Picture: Ian MacNicol/Sportsfile
There was disappointment for Mona McSharry in the 100m breaststroke final at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha on Tuesday.
The Sligo woman finished fifth, swimming 1:06.42, well outside her personal best of 1:05.55. She had gone into the final as the second fastest qualifier, holding strong hopes of becoming Ireland's first ever medal winner at the long course edition of the World Championships. The 23-year-old had won short course bonze in the event at the 2021 World Championships.
"I'm gutted," said McSharry as she tried to hold back the tears.
"I just felt like I was there and it was within my reach. I just didn't have it today and that's really tough to deal with. Back to the drawing board and keep working I guess.
"The most important thing is not coming away from this distraught or disheartened. [I need to] use it to my advantage rather than feeling like I'm not capable. That's probably going to be the hardest part."
Tuesday's race was won by China's Tang Qianting (1:05.27), with Tes Schouten of the Netherlands in second (1:05.82) and Hong Kong's Siobhan Bernadette Haughey (1:05.92) in third. The bronze medalist is the grandniece of former Taoiseach Charlie Haughey.
Earlier on Tuesday, and at his ease, Daniel Wiffen qualified for the final of the 800m freestyle. The 22-year-old from Magheralin swam 7:46.90 as he finished second behind Luca De Tullio on Italy.
Wiffen, the world record holder for the event, was the second fastest qualifier for the final. He will swim from lane five in the final which takes place at 4:02pm (Irish time) on Wednesday.
"I did try not to go too hard, I mean it’s not a stacked field here," said Wiffen, who finished fourth in the event at the 2023 World Championships.
"So doing the 800m is trying to go as slow as possible to still make it back. I knew it was going to be tight and I knew exactly what pace the others were going, so I didn’t want to leave it to chance in the heats, top two was what we wanted."
Wiffen had already finished seventh in the 400m freestyle final, his weakest event of the three he's competing in at the championships. He will also go in the 1500m at the weekend.
"I’m looking forward to it," Wiffen said about the final, "getting into my preferred schedule now, the 800m and 1500m, so yeah I’m looking forward to it, it’s going to be a great race."
Two other Irish swimmers were in action on Tuesday. Victoria Catterson swam 1:59.75, just 0.01 outside her personal best and Irish record as she finished sixth in her heat and 19th overall in the 200m freestyle.
"I just know that I’ve put everything into training the past while and I know I have so much better in me," the 22-year-old said.
"It’s just frustrating to be on high 1:59s yet again. I’m so much better than that."
Darragh Greene missed out on a 50m breaststroke semi-final place by just 0.14. In his final individual event of the championships, Greene finished in 27.76 to place 18th overall.
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