Mona McSharry, hailing from Marlins Swimming Club, has won an Olympic Bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. McSharry, who took to the stage on Monday night raced in the 100m Breaststroke final. Within this heavily stacked final were some of the world’s best breastroke names, such as USA’s Lilly King, South Africa’s Tatjana Smith, and China’s Qianting Tang. Now, McSharry has cemented her name up there with the best.
From start to finish, McSharry was in medal contention throughout the race, having touched the wall in 2ndposition (30.56). As she fought up the back 50m, she showed immense integrity and determination, resulting in her touching the wall in a time of 1:05.59, placing her as the 3rd swimmer to reach the wall in the final.
1. Tatjana Smith – 1:05.28 (Gold)
2. Qianting Tang – 1:05.54 (Silver)
3. Mona McSharry – 1:05.59 (Bronze)
4. Benedetta Pilato – 1:05.60
4. Lilly King – 1:05.60
6. Angharad Evans – 1:05.85
7. Eneli Jefimova – 1:06.50
8. Alina Zmushka – 1:06.54
After the race, McSharry said “I’m very excited! I don’t think it’s fully sunk in yet that I’ve actually won a medal! I think once I get up on the podium it’ll all become really real but I think it’s just amazing because it’s years of hard work that have paid off and it just feels amazing!
After touching the wall and seeing the result, she was asked what she was thinking – she said: “A little bit of relief, a little bit of wow – okay this is actually happening! Then just really excited to be in that position.”
After an emotional medal ceremony, McSharry “I started crying on the podium and I haven’t really fully started believing yet, so, it’s just unbelievable. I think it’s just the pinnacle of sport to have all your hard work pay off in something like this at this moment.”
Having had a day off from racing yesterday, she dived straight back into action this morning (Wednesday 31st) in the 200m Breaststroke heats. After an impressive heat swim, where the Ulster swimmer touched 3rd in her heat and in a time of 2:23.98, this places her 7th overall going into tonight’s semi-final scheduled for 21:11 (BST).