MAX MCCUSKER EQUALLED the Irish 100m butterfly record at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha — and then set a new national best less than two hours later.

On his world championship debut, McCusker swam a time of 52.52 to finish tied-fifth in the last of Friday morning’s heats.

That matched Shane Ryan’s record set at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

And more importantly, it left him level with South Africa’s Matthew Sates who recorded the exact time to share the 16th and final qualification place for this evening’s semi-finals.

The pair then had to return to the water less than two hours later for a head-to-head swim-off, where McCusker took more than two-tenths of a second off his PB and the national record with a time of 52.31.

However, it wasn’t enough to see him through to semis as Sates touched first in 51.80, leaving McCusker as first reserve for the semi-finals.

“I’m happy,” the 24-year-old said afterwards. “First time getting a PB in that event for, like, two years now, so yeah, it was quite emotional.

“I obviously wanted to make the semi-final, but that’s not the focus here really, so happy with it.”

McCusker returns to the pool on Sunday as part of Ireland’s 4×100 medley relay team.

Elsewhere, Maria Godden will be the first reserve for the 200m backstroke semi-finals after she finished 17th in a time of 2:13.30, while Tom Fannon missed out on a place in the semi-finals of the 50m freestyle by just 0.11 seconds, finishing 24th overall in a time of 22.23.

Later on Friday, Mona McSharry competes in her second world final of the week when she goes in the 200m breaststroke medal race at 4.49pm.