Róisín Ní Ríaín claimed her first medal at a major Para competition in the S13 100m Backstroke on Day 4 of the World Para Swimming Championships in Madeira, Portugal. This is the second medal of the week for Team Ireland after Nicole Turner won bronze in the SB6 200m Individual Medley on Monday night.

Ní Ríain finished in a time of 1:09.37 to secure third spot on the podium in last night’s final. The 16-year-old put on an incredible performance to finish 4.52 seconds ahead of fourth place, and just 3.81 behind second.

In what was her fourth appearance of the week, in her debut at a major competition, the Limerick swimmer showed she is not just here for the learning experience, as she came close to podium finishes in her two previous races on Day 2 and 3 of the event.

Patrick Flanagan swam in the S6 400m Freestyle Heat, the NAC Dublin clubman clocked a time of 5:42.09, two seconds faster than his morning heat.

Speaking on his week at Europeans, Patrick said: “For the year that’s in it, it is all about learning, I took a few learning that I know I can implement. We have a competition lined up for the end of June, where I will hope to put in some good performances”.

Ní Ríain will return to action on Day 5 to swim in the S13 50m Freestyle, she will be joined by Sean O’Riordan and Nicole Turner, who will both compete in the 50m Freestyle in their respected class.

Swimming to the Fore

Ireland’s Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay have set a new Irish Senior Record to advance their Olympic qualification hopes at the LEN European Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

Finn McGeever, Jack McMillan, Gerry Quinn and Jordan Sloan clocked a cool 7:12.73 in Wednesday morning’s heats, lowering the previous Irish Record of 7:13.91 that was set by McMillan, Robbie Powell, Sloan and Brendan Hyland at the 2019 World Championships in Gwanju, South Korea.

The performance means they will go through to tonight’s Final at the Duna Arena ranked sixth, the team again seeking to set a new Irish Senior Record in order to maintain their world ranking – and their chances of Tokyo 2021 selection.

This Irish relay team left the World Championships ranked 16th in the world, a position which would see them earn that coveted Tokyo 2021 selection, but that position is not secure and Ireland’s best chance of maintaining it is to keep going faster than ever before.

So far all of Ireland’s relay teams have set new Irish Senior Records at this championships, with McMillan and Sloan helping lower the Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay record on Tuesday, as well as today’s Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay record.

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