BARRY MCCLEMENTS HAD to settle for a fifth place finish this evening in the final of S9 100m Butterfly S9 at the Paralympics.
McClements finished in a personal best time of 1:01.24 in his race at the La Défense Arena in Paris.
Italyis Simone Barlaam took gold in 57.99 seconds, setting a new European Record in the process.
Australia’s Timothy Hodge was the silver medal winner in 1:00.03, while his country compatriot took bronze as Lewis Bishop was home in 1:01.08.
Italy’s Federico Morlacchi just finished ahead of McClements in fourth place in 1:01.10.
Speaking directly after the final, McClements said: “I got a PB, so I can’t not be happy, I’m definitely capable of going the time that got bronze, so it’s a bit bittersweet but I can’t be angry going a PB.
“The race was perfectly executed in my opinion, to get a medal was always going to be me having a good race and a lot of people having a bad race, everyone out there had a good race. I’ve got another four years until LA, I’m looking forward to it.”
“In Tokyo I kind of forgot to enjoy the races, here I really enjoyed them, so I’m really happy,” the Down man added. “I’ve been away for a month now, it was great to see my family up there, I can’t wait to see them.
“I’ve really enjoyed the experience. In Tokyo, I only made one final, now I’ve made two finals and in fifth (100m Butterfly) I was really close to a medal. I’m really excited to see what the next four years holds.”
Elsewhere, Ireland’s equestrians achieved their top 10 goal in the Team Event at Versaille, thanks to all riders improving their scores from the individual tests earlier in the week.
Michael Murphy and Cleverboy, competing in Grade I, scored highest of the trio with 73:083%.
Paralympic debutant Sarah Slattery and Savona had a score of 68.895% in Grade V and the particularly new partnership of Kate Kerr-Horan and Lykkebo’s Don Akino scored 66:567% in Grade III.
That produced a total of 208.545% to clinch 10th place overall, two higher than Ireland achieved in Tokyo three years ago and less than 1% behind ninth-placed Austria in an event won by America (235.567), ahead of Netherlands (232.80) and Germany
(223.751).
- Additional reporting from Emma Duffy in Paris
