Swim Ireland Mona McSharry and Conor Ferguson 11th and 13th in World Semi-Finals

 

Mona McSharry and Conor Ferguson have bowed out of the 50m Breaststroke and 50m Backstroke respectively at the semi-final stages, as racing at the World Aquatics Championships in Japan reached its penultimate day.

Mona McSharry completed her individual programme in the semi-finals of the 50m Breaststroke. McSharry, who finished fifth in the 100m Breaststroke Final earlier in the week after achieving a Paris 2024 qualification in the heats, touched in 30.54 for sixth in her heat and eleventh overall.

Reflecting on her week of individual events McSharry said ‘A little disappointed with that swim, obviously coming out that’s all that’s on my mind now, but yeah I do have to go back and look at the whole meet and really just take a step back, this is really something I’ve never done before, I’ve never gotten into three semi-finals at a world level, so that’s something to be really proud of and you know I did the job, I’ve qualified for the Olympics and now I can train for the year and be faster and stronger next year’.

Conor Ferguson had a solid swim in the 50m Backstroke semi-final, his first semi-final at a World Championships. The 23-year-old was sixth in his heat in 25.09, finishing thirteenth overall.

Speaking after the race Ferguson commented ‘It’s kind of a bittersweet feeling because I wasn’t faster than this morning, I was close to my pb (personal best) but yeah, I’m just taking it all in, experiencing my first semi-final at a world level and at this stage, this year, coming up to the Olympic cycle, I can only take positives from it’.

McSharry returns to the pool tomorrow morning in the Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay, where she will be joined by Danielle Hill, Ellen Walshe and Victoria Catterson, while Ferguson will go in the Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay with Darragh Greene, Max McCusker and Shane Ryan.

Both relays will be hoping to secure at least top sixteen times; the top three teams in these relay finals will confirm places for Paris, with the remaining thirteen teams coming from the top times in Fukuoka and the Doha World Aquatics Championships in February 2024.

Also, in action tomorrow, Daniel Wiffen swims the 1500m Freestyle Final at 12.16pm (Ireland) after he advanced in second place from the heats this morning in 14:43.50. Wiffen was fourth in the 800m Freestyle Final earlier in the week and will be hoping to step up on the podium this time round. Ellen Walshe makes her long awaited return to the pool in the 400m Individual Medley. The Templeogue swimmer has not competed since the first day of competition where she secured the Olympic Qualification Time in the semi-final of the 200m Individual Medley.