Mona McSharry cruises into 200m breaststroke semi-finals in Paris

Busy day for Mona McSharry and the Irish in Paris

The Sligo swimmer clocked the second-fastest time of the morning heats a day after winning silver in the 100m, RTÉ reports.

McSharry finished second in her heat in 2:23.37, behind Britain's Angharad Evans, the swimmer who pipped her to 100m gold on Wednesday.

Enniskillen's Ellie McCartney joins her in tonight's semi-finals, which get under way at 6.07pm Irish time, after finishing third in heat one in 2:26.95 to advance ninth overall, The42 reports.

McCartney said she went two seconds faster than her heat at last week's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

The Olympic bronze medallist believes there is more to come this evening.

Speaking to RTÉ Sport, McSharry said: "I'm definitely hoping to be able to go faster than my best.

"Based on training that's kind of where I'm at, I think breaking the 2.22 is definitely in me."

Elsewhere in the pool, Galway teenager John Shortt won his 50m backstroke heat in 25.11 but dropped to 25th overall and missed the semi-finals.

Denis O'Brien (1:51.51) and Liam Custer (1:53.34) both set personal bests in the 200m freestyle heats.

It caps another hectic day for Irish sport, with Ireland's European Athletics Championships team also in action in Birmingham, where Marcus Lawler reached the 200m semi-finals this morning.