Jack Kelly’s hopes of a medal at his first European Aquatics Championships ended in disappointment in Paris on Tuesday evening, but the 23-year-old’s breakthrough week still has the prospect of his best event to come.The New York-born swimmer finished seventh in the 100m breaststroke final at the Olympic Aquatic Centre in 59.36, having qualified second-fastest after twice lowering his own Irish record on his international debut on Monday.Kelly was unable to reproduce the start that had propelled him into the final as Italy’s Nicolò Martinenghi took gold in 58.58. His compatriot Simone Cerasuolo, who had led early, faded but held on for bronze, while Kelly could not improve his position in the closing stages.His time was still his third-fastest ever, and his focus will now turn to the 200m breaststroke, his favoured event, which gets under way on Wednesday morning (9.47am).“Outside of this meet, that was an unbelievable swim and obviously I wanted to do a little bit better, but looking at how I’ve done so far, I really can’t complain. It was a good swim,” he said.“It’s been a great start, so I’m really excited to see how I do tomorrow in the 200 and we’ll kind of just go from there.”Olympic bronze medallist Mona McSharry qualified second-fastest for the women’s 100m breaststroke final, which takes place on Wednesday (5.58pm).McSharry clocked 1:05.64 in her semi-final, her second-fastest time ever, to set up a showdown with Britain’s Angharad Evans. Evans twice broke the championship record on Monday, lowering it to 1:04.97 in the semi-finals.Ireland’s Mona McSharry in action during the semi-finals of the 100m breaststroke. Photograph: Andrea Staccoli/Inpho “I’m excited,” said McSharry. “I think going in second takes a little bit of the pressure off. Let her soak up lane four and just try to get down there beside her.”Ellie McCartney finished eighth in the same semi-final in 1:08.37.World junior champion John Shortt produced a dramatic comeback to reach Wednesday evening’s 200m backstroke final (5.40pm).The 19-year-old Galwegian was seventh at halfway in his semi-final but charged through the field over the closing 100m, moving into fourth with 50m remaining before taking second behind Greece’s Apostolos Siskos. His time of 1:55.31 was a new Irish record.Shortt had earlier applauded French rival Nathan Muratory, who broke his world junior record in the heats with 1:53.57. Muratory failed to progress from his semi-final, while Hungary’s Hubert Kos, whose father is Irish, set a new European record of 1:52.30.“That’s just my plan all the time, being able to come back quickly and sneak my way up the pack,” said Shortt. “It’s not how you start the race, it’s how you finish it, and I finished it really, really well.”Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen also progressed to Wednesday’s 800m freestyle final (7.03pm), finishing third in his morning semi-final in 7:44.86. Wiffen, 25, posted his fastest time of the season on his return to the city where he won Olympic gold at the distance two years ago.Ireland’s Ellie McCartney in action during the semi-finals of the 100m breaststroke. Photograph: Andrea Staccoli/Inpho He was third in his heat, clocking 7:44.86, an improvement on the 7:48.42 he recorded at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow a fortnight ago. His Irish record stands at 7:38.19.The Magheralin athlete has been working his way back towards his best after suffering appendicitis 14 months ago and said he was encouraged by the performance, particularly after a short turnaround from Glasgow.“I wasn’t sure what shape I was going to be in and if I’d make the final, so to drop a time like that after just a week of resting after Commonwealth Games, I’m really happy,” he said. “I even went out really quick to 400, so it’s good signs for the final.” Wiffen, who has spent the past 12 weeks training in Dublin after cutting short his move to California, believes he is beginning to see the benefits of that work after a difficult period.“You can see the progress we’ve made since trials, where I went 7:58, I’m 7:44 now,” he said. “I knew I was just going to have to go for it. Commonwealth Games was good before this because I kind of got back into the mentality I want to be in, in terms of racing my race.”His twin brother, Nathan, was in the same heat and finished in 7:57.08, just over two seconds outside his lifetime best of 7:54.60. Liam Custer also recorded a season’s best of 8:06.89, just 0.72 seconds shy of his PB, although neither swimmer advanced to the final.Ellen Walshe was 26th in the 50m butterfly despite winning her heat, while Rosalie Phelan and Alana Burns-Atkin finished 55th and 49th respectively.Evan Bailey was 32nd in the men’s 100m freestyle and Matthew Hamilton 47th. Ireland’s mixed 4x100m medley relay team of Lottie Cullen, Darragh Greene, Jack Cassin and Grace Davison missed the final by four hundredths of a second but set a new Irish record in 3:48.34.