Gillespie Shines in China as McSharry Continues World Cup Medal Run

It was another strong week for Irish athletes on the international stage, with Lara Gillespie delivering the best WorldTour stage race result of her career, Mona McSharry adding to her growing World Cup medal collection, and Derek Burnett and Aoife Gormally setting a new Irish record at the European Championship Shotgun in Greece.

Cycling

Career-Best WorldTour Result for Lara Gillespie

Lara Gillespie continued her impressive late-season form by securing second overall at the Tour of Chongming Island, a UCI Women’s WorldTour stage race in China.

Racing for UAE Team ADQ, the Irish rider finished second on the final stage after another closely contested bunch sprint with one of the world’s fastest riders, Lorena Wiebes of Team SD Worx-Protime. It was the second consecutive day that Gillespie pushed Wiebes all the way to the line, highlighting the significant progress she has made against the sport’s elite sprinters.

While victory narrowly eluded her, Gillespie’s consistency across the race earned her second place in the overall general classification, the best stage race result of her professional career at WorldTour level.

The performance is a timely boost ahead of the UCI World Track Championships in China next week, where Gillespie will carry strong momentum and confidence into her pursuit of another world title.

Swimming

McSharry Completes Another Triple-Medal World Cup Campaign

Mona McSharry continued her excellent form at the second stop of the 2026 World Aquatics World Cup in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, departing with a complete set of medals for the second consecutive meeting.

The Olympic medallist claimed gold in the 100m breaststroke, silver in the 50m breaststroke and bronze in the 200m breaststroke, mirroring her impressive return from the opening leg in Baku, Azerbaijan.

McSharry’s final medal in Tashkent came in a thrilling 50m breaststroke final, where she touched in 29.85 seconds to secure silver behind Russia’s Ralina Giliazova (29.76). Belgium’s Florine Gaspard finished third in 29.86, with just nine hundredths of a second separating the podium places.

Ellen Walshe also impressed throughout the competition, reaching two finals for the second consecutive day. The Dubliner narrowly missed out on a medal in the 200m individual medley, finishing fourth in 2:07.74, before placing eighth in the 100m butterfly final in 58.22.

The final stop of the World Cup series takes place in Astana, Kazakhstan, from 15-17 October.

Olympic Trap

Irish Record for Burnett and Gormally

There was success for Irish athletes in Greece, where Derek Burnett and Aoife Gormally set a new Irish Olympic Trap Mixed Team record at the European Championship Shotgun. The pair finished 11th with a combined score of 142. Individually, Ian O’Sullivan was the top performer, finishing in 13th with a score of 121. Aoife Gormally was 24th (112) whilst Derek Burnett was 72nd (114).