Two more Finals in the Pool, fourth and fifth on the road and in the field, and record-setting Sarah Storey…
CYCLING FOURTH ON ROAD FOR O’REILLY
Gary O’Reilly brought a memorable first Paralympic Games to a close with another excellent performance that saw him finish in fourth place in the H5 Road Race having been in contention for a medal throughout the event.
At the end of the race, a breakaway group of 3 riders made a break that the rest of the riders couldn’t answer, but O’Reilly himself then made a break to ensure that he finished in 4th position with a time of 2:24.57.
“I’m chuffed about the Games as a whole. I think fourth today was the best result I could have hoped for, to be honest. With the medal yesterday, I’m still struggling to believe that happened, so I think all in all its job done. I couldn’t be happier.”
NÍ RIAIN MAKES FIFTH FINAL
Róisín Ní Riain has qualified for another final in her concluding event at her debut Paralympic Games in Tokyo, setting another new personal best along the way. The 16-year-old finished second in the heats of the Women’s 100m Breaststroke – SB13 with a time of 1.20.81.
She found herself in fifth position at the halfway point but produced a terrific second 50m sprint to beat out her competitors from Germany, Uzbekistan and RPC. She qualifies fifth for the final later today which takes place at 11.09 Irish time.
“I’m really happy with that. I was looking to go out and enjoy that swim today and I did that. To come out with a PB, I’m really happy with that. I was hoping for a PB, I don’t know what it was, nearly two seconds, I’m really happy with that.”
“I think something I do need to work on is going out faster but at least I was able to close and have that finishing speed as well.”
“I was hoping to make a final but I really didn’t know so [delighted] to be able to make one last one and hopefully one last good swim tonight. The whole experience has been great, I’ve loved every minute of it and I’m just trying to take it all in. I’m really happy so far.”
KEANE ADDS FINAL TO GOLD
Ellen Keane returned to action following her gold medal last week and produced a strong performance to qualify for the final of the SM9 Women’s 200m Individual Medley
The Dubliner finished second in her heat with a time of 2.40.99 leaving her in seventh place overall for the final which takes place at 10.40 am Irish time.
“I knew I had to go fast to try and make the final tonight so I gave all that I had. I was actually so nervous, I felt like I was going to get sick before the race just because it’s such a hard field.”
“You could swim a best time and still not make a final. And I was just less than a second off my best.”
MCCLEMENTS JUST MISSES OUT
Barry McClements finished just outside of the final times in the SM9 Men’s 200m Individual Medley. His time of 2:29.68 left him in joint fourth position in this morning’s heats alongside Italy’s Simone Ciulli.
“I added on four seconds to my PB so it’s a bit disappointing but it’s not my main event so I’ll come back tomorrow and go for that PB. It’s a long competition for swimmers, there’s usually only seven days and this one’s 10 days so I have to learn from this and take it to Paris.”
McCARTHY THROWS TO FIFTH PLACE FINISH
Despite saving her best throw until last, Cork discus thrower Niamh McCarthy finished fifth in the F41 Women’s Discus final.
The Rio silver medallist and three-time world medallist produced her best throw of 28:94 metres in the sixth round. Her first-round 28:59m had her lying third after the second round but the standard of competition was sensational and saw the world record change hands three times.
Defending champion Roaua Tlili took gold with her final throw of 37.91m to overtake Morocco’s Youssra Karim (37:35m) whose teammate Hayat El Garaa took bronze with 29:30.
“I’m happy with my performance,” said McCarthy. “I know other people were expecting better things but it’s been a very hard few years so just to make it here and to have a few good throws I’m happy with that.”
“My PB is over 30m and I’m a way’s off my season-best. If you just look at the result you’d be thinking if I did slightly nearer to it I could have got a medal but I don’t think I could have done more today, I did as best as I could.”
“Had the Games gone ahead last year I wouldn’t have been in them. I’ve been trying for years to get back to where I used to be so it’s been a difficult time. I’ve changed as a person. That’s not to say that those strengths aren’t in there but they’re not with me right now in the quantity that I’d like so I’m happy to just have made it to this competition. It was touch-and-go so I’m really proud of myself.”
EAGLESHAM ON THE RANGE
Philip Eaglesham returned to the shooting range this morning to compete in the SH2 R5 competition on the 10m range. Eaglesham competed well again with a high score of 106.2 and a low of 104.2 from across his six rounds of shooting. His total score of 632.0 saw him finish in 21st place.
His attention will now turn to his favoured event, the R4 Mixed which moves back to a 50m range and plays more closely to Philip’s strengths. That event will take place on Saturday, September 4th.
STOREY HITS SWEET 16
Dame Sarah Storey won her 16th Paralympic Gold medal overnight in the C5 Cycling Time Trial.
That makes her level with swimmer Mike Kenny as the ‘winningmost’ of all time and she still has one event left tomorrow on the road.
The event took place at the same venue where F1 driver James Hunt secured a world title back in 1976, two years before Storey was born.
She made her debut as a 14-year-old swimmer at the Barcelona Games in 1992 and switched to cycling after getting tired of persistent ear infections from the pool.
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