The evening session of Day Two (Monday) at the Youth Olympic Games saw fourth and fifth place in the pool for McSharry and Coyne respectively and a final qualification for Emma Slevin in the women’s vault.
Swimming:
In the women’s 50m breaststroke Mona McSharry finished just outside the medals in fourth place with a time of 31.96, just ahead of Niamh Coyne in fifth with 32.02.
Speaking after the race, McSharry was happy with her performance; “I progressed it on from last night, I wasn’t happy with last night’s performance, so I was happy that I was able to come back and swim a faster time. Obviously it’s good, I’m gutted to be fourth – but it’s still fourth. I’m happy with that.”
This is an unusual time of the year for the swimmers to be competing, and McSharry was pleased to produce a season best in the pool; “It’s very early in the season, normally we are just starting back now into the long preparation, so it’s hard to be ready and on form at this time of year, so I’m happy with that time – it’s a season best at the moment.”
McSharry and Coyne are in action all week, competing in the 100m breaststroke tomorrow, the Sligo swimmer said; “It’s only really starting – I’ve three events still to do.”
Gymnastics:
Emma Slevin has qualified for the final in the women’s vault, finishing with a total of 13.2 after two rounds. This put her in 8th place overall in the vault tied with Australia’s Kate Sayer – tomorrow she competes in the uneven bars qualifier. Slevin scored a personal highest score in the opening round of the women’s vault qualification with a 13.30 in her first vault, her combined total was 13.20 after two. The Galway girl from Renmore Gymnastics Club competed with a new vault with added difficulty to what she had previously done and was pleased with her performance.
Following the competition, Emma commented; “I feel amazing, that’s the best score that I ever got in vault and I did a new vault as well! So I’m just happy it all went okay. It’s the full twist [Full twisting Yurkenko]. It’s an upgrade from my last one which was a straight with no twist [Straight Yurkenko]. It took a lot of practise, I’ve been doing this since the start of May, and it’s only ready now!! That boosts my confidence going into the next day, to be in second after the two rotations is just amazing.”
Day three of the Youth Olympic games brings Nhat back to the court again for the third group play stage of the men’s singles, Galway’s David Kitt and Dublin’s Lauren Crowley Walsh will take to the green for the men’s and women’s golf individuals respectively. Dublin’s Niamh Coyne and Sligo’s Mona McSharry will compete in the women’s 100m breaststroke while Athlone man Robert Powell takes to the pool for the men’s 50m free. Emma Slevin will take to the floor for the women’s uneven bars later in the day.
Team Ireland in Buenos Aires comprises of a squad of 16 athletes from 9 sports. The team of 5 male athletes and 11 female athletes includes Nhat Nguyen (Badminton) and Mona McSharry (Swimming), recipients of Olympic Solidarity Scholarships which were awarded to assist with qualification and preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
This is the third edition of the Youth Olympic Games which are hosted every four years. The Games, running from October 6 to October 18 will feature more than 4,000 talented junior athletes aged 15 to 18 from 200 countries in over 32 sports.
