McSharry Makes First Final for Ireland in 25 Years

Mona McSharry swam the second-fastest 50 metres in her life overnight to make Ireland’s first swimming Final at the Games since Michelle Smith back in Atlanta in 1996.

The Sligo swimmer was the FINA World Junior Champion in 2017 and was ranked 11th among the competitors taking part in the completion suggesting the semi-final should have been her ceiling.

She rose to 9th in the heats and now to 8tyh for the final. She is the current Irish record holder with a time of 1:06.29, half a second faster than the time she swam in the semi-final so there is still some room to pull out a big one in the final.

That will take place at 03:17 in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

COVID Watch

Another ten positive cases have been reported among accredited personnel at the games, bringing the total so far to 137. One athlete, a dutch rower, is included making him the fifth member of the Dutch delegation to test positive.

13 athletes have now tested positive either before or just after competing, including two stars in the men’s golf Bryson DeChambeau and World Number One Jon Rahm, who has now tested positive twice in the past month.

Team Travails Overnight

The Women’s Hockey Team put up a brave defensive performance in their second game, holding the Gold medal favourite Dutch team to a 1-0 lead after three quarters. The pressure was unrelenting though and the team conceded a further three goals in that final period. Next up for Ireland will be Germany at 04:15 on Wednesday morning.

The Men’s Rugby Sevens Team went down 33-14 to South Africa in their Olympic Debut. Gavin Mullin scored our first ever try at an Olympic Games just before the halftime break but South Africa were stronger in most areas. The Irish team have two more Group Games, against Team USA at 1030 this morning and against Kenya overnight as they look to progress to the Quarter Finals.

False Start in Triathlon

There was a dramatic start to the Men’s Triathlon with half the field going into the water before the start. Boats were dispatched to alert them to their mistake and two jet ski’s got their heads up after swimming around 200 metres. At the end of the race, it was a three-way battle between Norway, Britain and New Zealand but a last running lap burst from 27-year-old Kristian Blummenfeld saw him take Gold ahead of Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde.

Team GB Hits Double Gold

Two Olympic veterans in Adam Peaty and Tom Daley have landed Team GB’s first Gold medals at the games in the Swimming and the Diving Pools. Daley had been one of the stars of the ‘home’ games at London 2012 but had to settle for fourth place in the synchronised event. He improved to win Bronze at Rio 2016 but it was this morning before he finally got to taste victory winning Gold at the third time of asking.

Disappointment for Jegou, Walsh and Irvine

Liam Jegou made it to the semi-final but no further in the Canoeing event this morning but is young enough to bounce back. He said afterwards that he would allow himself an hour of sadness and regret but that there was a lot more to come.

In the ring, there was disappointment for Ireland Team Captain Brendan Irvine and Michaela Walsh who both exited their respective tournaments.

Typhoon Forces Postponement of Rowing and Archery.

The threat of a Typhoon has forced organisers to postpone today’s planned Rowing events to Wednesday and Thursday. The forecast is for high winds and gusts that would have led to “unequal and potentially unrowable racing conditions.”

 

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