Ellen Walshe and Mona McSharry have already climbed on to the European medal podium in Paris this week, but both had to give themselves a mid-race talking-to on Saturday morning as they fought their way into another set of semi-finals.Walshe, the new 400m individual medley European champion, admitted she had to “cop on” during the second half of her 50m butterfly heat, while McSharry, fresh from bronze in the 200m breaststroke on Friday night after winning silver in the 100m, had to remind herself to put her head down after a messy opening 25m.The morning swim was another test of concentration for Walshe in what has become an increasingly demanding schedule. The 24-year-old clocked 2:11.81 to finish third in her heat and ninth overall, securing her place in tonight’s semi-final.“I think I wasn’t really fully committed to the whole thing but I kind of just copped on in that second 100, and I was like, ‘woops’,” Walshe said with a smile afterwards. “Listen, it’s a strong field out there so it will be tough to get back in the top eight tonight.”In fact Walshe will be competing in two big races this evening, with the 200m individual medley final to come at 5.47pm before returning for the 50m butterfly semi-final at 6.56pm.The Templeogue swimmer conceded that refocusing after Wednesday’s gold medal had not been straightforward. “Yeah, it’s definitely hard to refocus since Wednesday and try to get yourself back on track, but I guess that’s what we’ve trained for,” she said.“I knew coming in that the back end was going to be busy, so I’ve just got to put up with it, I guess.”Mona McSharry during the 50m breaststroke at the European Aquatics Championships in Paris on Saturday. Photograph: François Nel/Getty Images McSharry is chasing a third medal at the Olympic Aquatic Centre after producing 30.37 seconds to win her 50m breaststroke heat and qualify fourth fastest overall. The 25-year-old, who has already won silver in the 100m breaststroke and bronze in the 200m, will be back in the pool at 6.01pm as she bids to make Sunday’s 50m final.“I’m happy out,” said McSharry. “I didn’t think that was the way that race was going, it felt messy in the first 25 and I was like, ‘Mona, put the head down here, you’ve got it.’ So I’m happy out.”She had expected a time a time in the low 30 seconds to be required and was pleased to deliver. “I definitely like doing a 50, the energy is different going from a 200 yesterday and going into this you can get yourself really hyped,” she said.Daniel Wiffen will also race for a medal tonight in the 1500m freestyle final at 6.20pm. The Olympic bronze medallist qualified for the final earlier in the championships.Tom Fannon, meanwhile, waited all week for his European debut and marked it by qualifying ninth fastest for the 50m freestyle semi-finals in 21.85.Fannon, who set an Irish record of 21.58 last month, said the long wait had been difficult but he was pleased with a controlled swim as he looked forward to returning for a 5.57pm semi-final. “It was a decent swim,” he said. ”I tried not to push it as much as I wanted to, in a way.“I could see the lads either side of me so I knew I was in the race. It was a quick morning swim, though. It’s just executing a decent race tonight.”John Shortt missed the 100m backstroke semi-finals by a narrow margin, finishing in 54.17, while Matthew Hamilton came within four hundredths of his Irish junior record in the 50m freestyle, touching in 22.61.Alana Burns-Atkin also missed out in the 200m butterfly, as did Jack Cassin and Jacob Armon in the men’s 200m individual medley. Liam Custer finished in 2:03.83, setting a new personal best.