Mona McSharry set another national record in the final of the 50m breaststroke at the World Short Course Swimming Championships but missed out on a medal by just 0.04 of a second in Abu Dhabi.
Sligo's McSharry, based at the University of Tennessee, set a new Irish record of 29.65 in the 50m breaststroke semi-final and bettered that in today's final, clocking 29.59 but was just pipped for bronze by Sweden's Sophie Hansson.
Israel’s Anastasia Gorbenko took gold and Italy’s Benedetta Pilato was second.
McSharry said: "I can’t but be happy with a PB, and I progressed through the rounds, which is great to see of course. Fourth is gut-wrenching, but if you look at it the other way, I was fourth, that’s not horrendous.
"It’s definitely something to improve on and I do love racing the 50, it sets me up really well for the rest of the week, and I can’t dwell on it now. I just have to move on and do better later on.
"Anyone of those eight could have touched the wall first. With any 50, that’s just the way it happens. Any little thing can go wrong. At Europeans I managed to get a medal from lane eight. The three that got it today were just the best in the moment."
The 21-year-old will get her chance to bounce back swiftly in the 100m individual medley heats tomorrow.
Earlier, world silver medallist Ellen Walshe swam another personal best this morning but was among a group of Irish swimmers that failed to advance .
The 20-year-old, who became the first Irish woman to win a world swimming medal in the 400m individual medley on Thursday, was back in action in the heats of the 200m butterfly.
Walsh swam 2:08.16 to better the 2:09.94 she set at the Irish National Short Course Championships in 2019 but finished 14th and did not advance to the final this afternoon.
The Dubliner will be back in action on Saturday morning in the 50m butterfly heats.
Elsewhere on Friday, Jack McMillan and Jordan Sloan finished 11th and 28th in the 200m freestyle heats, clocking 1:43.13 and 1:46.50 respectively.
Danielle Hill’s second event at the championships was the 100m freestyle, where she swam 54.98 to finish 31st in a stacked field. She does not race on Saturday, but will return on Sunday for the 50m backstroke and on Monday for the 50m freestyle.
Brendan Hyland also swam his second event of the championships, swimming 51.79 to finish in 35th in the 100m butterfly.
