Orla Comerford came tantalizingly close to a bronze medal in the 100m T13 final at the Para Athletics World Championships in Paris last night. Her fourth-place finish was only 0.06 of a second away from the podium.
It was enough though to qualify a slot for Team Ireland in the event for the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris next summer.
“Honestly, I’ve mixed emotions about it, I came here to be top four and I am so delighted and I can’t put into words how delighted I am to have achieved that,” she said after the race.
“It takes a massive weight off me for next year. Obviously, after yesterday’s run, I was hoping for bronze, but it wasn’t to be.”
Seasoned Paralympian Greta Streimikyte set a new European record in her T13 1,500 metre Final but that was also just outside the medal positions, finishing fourth.
A fast start saw Streimikyte leading the pack for over 400m, however as the race progressed, she found herself fighting for the elusive third place which ended up being just beyond her reach.
Her time of 4:33.27 has also secured a slot for Team Ireland at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games.
“I’m kind of between fourth and fifth,” she said later. It would be nice in a major world championship or Paralympic Games to move from that position. Today didn’t work out the way I wanted I need to come back and rethink if is there anything I could do differently. There’s always room to improve.”
The next of the Irish athletes to compete is Shauna Bocquet who will make her world championship debut this morning at 10:20 Irish time.
This will be the first of three events for the Craughwell native as she also races in the T54 100m and T54 400m later in the week.
