LAST UPDATE | 16 Aug 2022
MONA MCSHARRY STORMED into the final of the women’s 50m Breaststroke at the European Aquatics Championships in Rome.
McSharry moved up four ranking places, from eleventh, to qualify for tomorrow’s 50m Breaststroke final in seventh place in 30.90, just .03 of a second off her irish record.
The Sligo swimmer makes it three finals from three Breaststroke events at these Championships, where she finished fifth in the 100m and seventh in the 200m.
Top qualifier and previous World Record holder in the event Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania swam under her 2013 World Record of 29.48 touching in 29.44, while the current World Record holder Benedetta Pilato (29.30) of Italy will be the second seed for the final in 29.85.
The final takes place tomorrow (Wednesday) at 5.05pm Irish time.
FINAL
— Swim Ireland (@swimireland) August 16, 2022
It’s a third FINAL for Mona McSharry! Mona goes through in the 50m Breaststroke in 30.90, 7th overall and just .03 off her Irish Record!
✅ 3 Events
✅ 3 Semi-Finals
✅ 3 Finals#Roma2022 #teamarenaIRL pic.twitter.com/3XaGpXBZd0
In diving, Clare Cryan had advanced from this morning’s preliminaries in eighth place with 230.40 points, with just an hour between the preliminaries and the final, and scorching conditions at the Foro Italico, the 28-year-old almost matched her score finishing with 227.75 points in eleventh place.
Italy topped the podium with gold and bronze from Elena Bertocchi (264.25) and Chiara Pellacani (259.05) while Sweden’s Emma Gullstrand claimed silver with 259.65 points.
Cryan returns for the 3m springboard on Friday.
Earlier, fellow Irishwoman Niamh Coyne was due to compete alongside McSharry in the semi-finals, though the Dubliner did not take her place at the starting blocks.
There was a disappointing exit for Shane Ryan in the men’s 50m Freestyle heats.
The American-born Ireland star won his heat in a time of 23.08, but it was the slowest winning time of the eighth heats and placed him 50th overall. Just the top 16 prevailed.
Max McCusker also fell short; 23.58 placing him 62nd overall.
Final event of the morning with two 🇮🇪 swimmers in the 200m IM
— Swim Ireland (@swimireland) August 16, 2022
Eoin Corby 2:05.78 (2nd reserve)
Liam Custer 2:06.66 (pb)#Roma2022 #teamarenaIRL pic.twitter.com/at2UR7oWGx
Likewise, there was no immediate progression joy for Eoin Corby and Liam Custer in their 200m Individual Medley heat, finishing seventh and eighth respectively. That said, Corby will be a second reserve.
Corby clocked 2:05.79, with Custer next home in a personal best time of 2:06.66.
Gabriel Jose Lopes of Portugal won their heat, the fastest one, in 1:58.94.
The top 16 overall advanced, with Corby — who posted the fastest Breaststroke leg in the race — 18th and Custer 22nd.
- You can follow the results here >
