Mona McSharry secures place in 200m breaststroke final at world championships in Doha; John Shortt breaks Irish record

Mona McSharry has secured a place in the final of the 200m at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha.

The Sligo swimmer finished third in her semi-final in a time of 2:25.13 behind Sydney Pickrem from Canada and Alina Zmushka from Belarus, who is swimming under the banner of Neutral Independent Athletes.

Fifth after the first 50m, McSharry kept in touch with the leading duo and gradually worked her way into third place for the final length.

McSharry's time was seventh fastest of the two semi-finals and as a result she will swim in one of the outside lanes in the final, which takes place on Friday at 4:49pm (Irish time).

The 23-year-old had earlier won her heat, clocking 2:24.82, and will be looking to swim a time of 2:23.91 or better to qualify for the 200m in the Olympics, having already secured her ticket to Paris in the 100m breaststroke.

McSharry said: "I'm excited. That was a little bit slower than this morning but one of my fastest races and based on how I feel getting out of it, I feel that I put it well together and the last 50 metres felt pretty strong. So, tomorrow is just about having big guts and pushing to go out a little bit stronger in the first 100 metres."

Following McSharry into the pool in Thursday evening's session, John Shortt failed to advance to the 200m backstroke final, finishing eighth in his semi in a time of 1:58.47.

The 17-year-old was the final qualifier for the semis and went almost one second faster in his race, which was won by Hugo Gonzalez of Spain. Shortt was 14th fastest overall in the semi-finals.

Shortt's time was fast enough to break his own Irish record, shaving 0.16secs off his previous best.

He said: "I was a bit disappointed with that swim this morning, because I've been training much