Updated at 20.34
IRELAND’S RÓISÍN Ní Riain has won a bronze medal in the 200m Individual Medley SM13 final.
It is Ireland’s third medal at the Paralympic Games, although it was followed five minutes later with another bronze from Orla Comerford.
The 19-year-old Limerick native finished third with a personal best time of 2:27.47.
The race was won by Italy’s Carlotta Gilli (2:25.33), while USA’s Olivia Chambers (2:25.90) claimed silver.
It is Ní Riain’s second medal at the Paralympics — she previously won silver in Friday’s 100m backstroke S13.
She also narrowly missed out on a medal in last week’s 100m Butterfly S13 final, finishing fourth, while she has a chance to add to her tally on Thursday — her heat in the 100m Breastroke SB13 is due to start at 10.11am.
Ní Riain was in fourth place for a significant portion of tonight’s race but pipped Uzbekistan’s Shokhsanamkhon Toshpulatova (2:27.55) to a medal.
“I’ve been coming fourth in this event for so long, I’m delighted to have finally secured third place,” she said afterwards.
“I’m delighted with my finish. I planned to build on the solid swim this morning and I’m really happy to win bronze.
“I had a couple of tactical things to work on… There’s always room for improvement.”
Speaking on the support in the stadium and her coach John Szaranek, she said: “The Irish supporters are lovely. For them to be here and to see me win a medal, it’s as much for them as it is for me. And to have my coach here as well, John, who’s been with me for the last good few years now, that’s really great to do with him here as well.
And he’s been my support along with my group and my centre (National Centre Limerick) back at home as well. They’ve been excellent.”
On Comerford’s bronze medal, she added: “Oh, that’s absolutely wonderful, both at the same time. That’s wonderful to hear for Orla. I couldn’t be happier to hear. It’s great. Great night for Team Ireland. And hopefully, there may be some more to come.”
Earlier, Ní Riain came second in her heat and posted the third fastest time overall, with 2.30.75 this morning.
She was one of four Irish swimmers in the finals this evening: Nicole Turner and Dearbhaile Brady reached the S6 50m Butterfly final, while Barry McClements advanced to the S9 100m Backstroke final, but all three missed out on a medal.
Meanwhile, Ellen Keane has spoken after missing out on a final place in her fifth and last Paralympics game when she ended in eighth place in the S9 100m Backstroke heat.
“You know what, I made a joke with my coach coming in here what if I come last?” she said.
“And Hayley [Burke] was like: ‘Yeah, well there is a high possibility you might come last.’
“So when I was racing I could see the girl beside me and I was trying so bad, ‘Don’t come last,’ so really proud of that swim. It was really fun, it hurt a lot but today has been really special. I even had a little cry in the call room.”
- With reporting from Emma Duffy at La Défense Arena.
