The Allianz World Para Swimming Championships drew to a close over the weekend with Ellen Keane winning a silver medal in the 100 metre Breaststroke and Roisín Ní Riain coming fourth in the 200 metre individual medley final.
Keane’s swim was just short of gold medal glory, however her silver medal guarantees Team Ireland another slot for Paris 2024.
“I’m delighted, obviously I’m disappointed not to have won the gold medal and it is my last world championships so that opportunity is gone but I’ve booked another slot for Paris and I’m so happy with that,” she said after the race.
Ní Riain finished out her world championships with fourth in the 200m IM final. The Limerick swimmer won silver and gold throughout the week and was the first to qualify a slot for Team Ireland at Paris 2024.
Nicole Turner was unlucky to miss out on a bronze medal in her final by the tightest of margins.
Over the course of the Championships Irish swimmers reached no fewer than 13 finals, with Ní Riain winning Gold and Silver medals and Keane winning Silver. They also qualified two Irish spots for next summer’s Paralympic Games in Paris.
It was also a great opportunity for the team behind the team to put in a dress rehearsal for competing at a major Championships in our own European time zone, and both Mark Brennan and Valerie Hedin of sponsors Allianz also made the trip to present medals across the Championship.
Wins all around then.
