SWIMMER Nicole Turner has secured another medal for Team Ireland at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
The Laois native delivered on the rich promise that she previously showed in Rio by winning a silver medal in thrilling fashion after competing in the Women's S6 50 metre butterfly final at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre this morning.
The swimmer showed great determination and experience to hold off a late challenge and clinch her silver medal in the final metre of her favoured event in Tokyo.
Turner entered the final having swum an impressive heat which saw her enter the decider as the second fastest swimmer and that form was maintained for the final as she again finished second, but only after battling through a brilliant race in which she set a new Personal Best time.
“I thought I’d be in a fight for bronze here so to get silver, I’m just in shock! In those last few strokes all I was thinking was that it hurt badly but just keep going,” she said after the race.
“No one will go down without a fight and I certainly gave it a fight. ‘
Fellow Team Ireland swimmer Barry McClements set his third Personal Best time in his two events this week.
This time the performance came in the S9 100m Backstroke Final as the young Down man battled gamely against a world class field to take over a second off the personal best that he had only set in this morning’s heats.
McClements is more than happy with his latest excellent performance.
“I’m very happy, I got a big PB across the day and made a final, that’s what I’m here to do, get PB’s & show myself that what I’m doing is working,” he said.
Philip Eaglesham opened his Tokyo 2020 campaign with a very encouraging showing in the SH2 R4 Qualifiers.
The athlete showed great consistency by hitting the centre ring with 58 of his 60 shots.
His final tally of 626.6 points was a new PB by a margin of 3 points in an event that provided Philip with valuable competition practice ahead of his favoured events later this week.
See More: Nicole Turner, Paralymipcs, Silver Medal, Tokyo
