PARA-CYCLING
Colin Lynch has finished fourth in the individual pursuit C2 bronze medal ride off.
Catherine Walsh and Fran Meehan set a new Irish record of 1:12.864 to finish fifth in the individual 1km time trial B final in the Velodrome.
Katie-George Dunlevy and Sandra Fitzgerald, competing in the same event, also set a new PB and finished in seventh position in a time of 1:14.315.
Enda Smyth set his second PB of the games clocking 3:47.542 in the individual pursuit C3 qualifiers. Smyth knocked five seconds off his previous national record and finished seventh overall.
SWIMMING
Bethany Firth, swimming in the 100m backstroke S14 heats in the Aquatic Centre, finished second in her heat - .01 behind Great Britain’s Jessica-Jane Applegate. Firth was the fourth fastest in the heats this morning and advances as a serious medal contender in tonight’s final at 7.38pm.
Laurence McGivern posted a new PB time of 1:05.35 to finish fourth in the 100m backstroke S9 heats and qualify for tonight’s final at 6.32pm. The 19-year-old shaved two seconds off his previous best time and qualified just ahead of world and Paralympic champion Matthew Cowdry.
McGivern said: “I came here and wanted to do a PB and I’m delighted that it was enough to get me into the final, I’m up against the world’s best here so that’s what motivated me the most”.
On this evening’s final he added: “Normally I swim better in the evening, I did a big PB this morning so if I can go better that would be amazing.”
Jonathan McGrath’s Paralympic Games comes to an end after swimming a season’s best of 4:53.25 in the 400m freestyle S8 heats which was not enough to book him a spot in the final.
ATHLETICS
At a wet and windy Olympic Stadium, 15-year-old Heather Jameson finished seventh in the women’s long jump F37/38 final. The Garristown native jumped a new PB of 4.11m, improving her previous best by 21cm on her second attempt.
Corkman John McCarthy, a silver medallist from 2004, competed in the club throw qualifying this morning, but his throw of 20.36m was not enough for him to advance to the final which is still ongoing.
ROWING
The Irish rowing team, consisting of Kevin Du Toit, Shane Ryan, Sarah Caffrey, Anne-Marie McDaid and Helen Arbuthnot, finished fifth in a time of 3:33.95 in heat 2 of the LTAMix4+ competition at Eton Dorney.
The Irish team now advances to the repechage on Saturday to try to book qualification for the final.
TABLE TENNIS
At the ExCel Arena, Rena McCarron Rooney and Eimear Breathnach were back in action in the women’s table tennis singles F1-2 preliminaries.
McCarron Rooney battled back from two games down to beat Jordan’s Maha Bargouthi 10-12, 12-14, 11-7, 11-3-, 11-9, while Breathnach lost her hard fought game against France’s Florence Sireau 12-14, 11-6, 5-11, 12-10, 11-3.
SHOOTING
Seán Baldwin, competing in the R1 10m air rifle SH1 qualifying, shot a score of 553, but needed a score of 589 or better to advance to the final at the Royal Artillery Barracks.
Speaking afterwards he said: "I'm not happy with my score, but am pleased with how I felt in the arena, it is important preparation for my main event tomorrow."
EQUESTRIAN
In the team test, grade IV, James Dwyer put in a solid performance score of 69.719% to finish fourth of 14.
