It's been a wonderful day for young Irish swimmer Mona McSharry after she claimed gold in the 50m Breaststroke at the European Junior Swimming Championships in Netanya, Israel.

McSharry set an Irish Junior record of 31.14 seconds to progress to the semi-final this afternoon. She bettered her performance in the semi-final, beating Fiona Doyle's long-standing Senior record (30.93 sconds) with a time of 30.91. 

In this evening's final, McSharry clinched gold with a time of 31.38 seconds to be crowned European Junior Champion.

This afternoon’s final then saw the 16-year-old claim her first major gold medal ahead of Poland’s Weronika Hellmann (31.55).

Last year, McSharry won Bronze in the same event and Ireland's last gold medal at the Championships was won by London 2012 Olympian Sycerika McMahon who took 50m Breaststroke (32.00) and 400m Freestyle Gold in 2011.

McSharry returns to the pool tomorrow for the heats of the 200m Breaststroke where she will be joined by Niamh Coyne.