Ireland's Nicole Turner and Róisín Ní Ríain have both made it through to their respective swimming finals at the Paralympic Games this morning.
Turner finished third in the Women’s S6 50m freestyle heat with a time of 35.35. She finished behind America's Ellie Marks and Ukraine’s Anna Hontar in the heat and will return to action at 6:19 p.m. for the final.
Derry’s Dearbhaile Brady (17), who made her Paralympic debut, did not make the cut despite performing admirably with a time of 36.45, which was a personal best.
Also, Limerick native Róisín Ní Ríain (19) reached the final of the S13 100m butterfly by recording a time of 1:06.40. Carlotta Gilli, who beat Ní Ríain previously, was the second-fastest with a time of 1:04.19, followed by Uzbekistan's Muslima Odilova (1:05.14) and Shokhsanamkhon Toshpulatova (1:05.83).
The final will take place at 7:15 p.m. tonight.
Paris , France, 26 August 2024: Nicole Turner of Ireland during a training session at the Paris La Défense Arena in advance of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, France. (Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images) )Speaking after her impressive swim, Ní Ríain admitted she was happy to get started but also added that she and her coach would review how they can improve for the final tonight.
“It was a good swim to get started with and nice to kick off; I’ve been raring to go,” Ní Ríain told the Irish Times. “It was a bit of fun getting out there this morning, happy, and back tonight, so that’s a good start.
“I guess I’ll have to go back and look with my coach, sit down and see how it went, but I’m happy with it for my first swim.
“The goal this morning was always just to make it back tonight. We’ll get a bit of rest and recovery now and see how it goes tonight.”
