The World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2025 kick started the major short-course (25m) season between 10th and 12th October in Carmel, Indiana, USA. Mona McSharry (Marlins) will be racing at all three stops (Carmel, Indiana; Westmont, Illinois; Toronto, Canada).
Stop 1: Carmel, Indiana
Day 1 of racing in Carmel seen McSharry set a new 200m Breaststroke Irish Record in the heats. The Olympic bronze medallists went under two minutes twenty for the first time clocking 2:19.95, breaking Niamh Coyne’s 2021 record of 2:20.19. In the final, McSharry touched in 2:20.03 to place fifth overall.
Mona McSharry continued her fine form on Day 2 with a fourth-place finish in the 100m Breaststroke. The Olympic bronze medallist was just .33 of a second outside the medals in 1:04.16 and .24 outside of her 2021 Irish Record of 1:03.92.
Day 3 brought the 50m Breaststroke for McSharry. After placing fourth in the 100m Breaststroke over the weekend, McSharry missed a medal by just two hundredths of a second in the 50m Breaststroke Final. The Sligo woman clocked 29.82 with the bronze medal won in 29.80 by Germany’s Anna Elendt. Estonia’s Eneli Jefimova took gold in 29.33 with silver going to Belgium’s Florine Gaspard in 29.58.
Stop 2: Westmont, Illinois
On Day 1 of racing in the state of Illinois, McSharry took to the blocks on the opening day of racing in the 200m Breaststroke. Mona McSharry broke the Irish 200m Breaststroke Record for the second week running when she finished fourth in the 200m Breaststroke Final in 2:19.29.
On Day 2, after securing three fourth places finishes, Mona McSharry has made her way into the top three with a silver medal win in the 100m Breaststroke. McSharry won her heat earlier in the day in 1:04.39 and improved on that in the final clocking 1:04.18 to secure her first podium spot. The USA’s Kate Douglass won the event for the second time in 1:03.14, with her team-mate Alex Walsh third in 1:04.45.
On the final day of racing at stop two of the World Aquatics World Cup in Westmont, Illinois, Mona McSharry won a gold medal in the 50m Breaststroke. McSharry, who won 100m Breaststroke silver on Saturday, added to her collection with an outstanding swim in the 50m Breaststroke Final, matching her 2021 Irish Record of 29.59 to top the podium. The 100m Breaststroke Olympic bronze medallist touched home seven hundredths of a second ahead of Anastasia Gorbenko (29.66) while Florine Gaspard took bronze in 29.70, the only three swimmers under the thirty second mark.
Still to come…Stop 3: Toronto, Canada
Mona McSharry continues on through the World Cup stops to the final destination of the three, making her way to Toronto, Canada. Racing alongside her at this meet, a quartet from the National Centre in Ulster (Brandon Biss, Lottie Cullen, Rosalie Phelan and Lachlan Reed) and National Centre Limerick swimmer Ellie McCartney. Racing will get underway from Thursday 23rd October until Saturday 25th October.