Irish swimmer Nicole Turner finished eighth in the final of the S6 400m freestyle at the Paralympic Games as Ukraine’s Yelyzaveta Mereshko set a new Paralympic record to claim gold in Rio.
Turner set a new personal best of five minutes 51.99 seconds to qualify from her heats as the sixth fast finisher.
However, those exertions appeared to have taken their toll in tonight’s final as the Laois Marlins swimmer clocked 5:54.61.
World record holder Mereshko lowered the Paralympic record with a time of 5:17.01, while China’s Song Lingling sealed silver and Britain’s Eleanor Simmonds bagged bronze.
Irish swimmer Nicole Turner reflects on her display in the S6 400m freestyle final at the age of just 14. pic.twitter.com/liJhUDQYZW
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 13, 2016
Turner told RTÉ Sport that her preparation for the final after this morning heats was far from ideal.
“I’m pretty tired, to be honest, she said.
“I’ve had a bit of a stressful day.
“There was smoke coming out of the vents in our apartment block so I didn’t really get back to bed after this morning, so I’m pretty tired.”
Despite finishing last in the final, Turner was upbeat, citing having to evacuate her building in the Olympic village as a factor in failing to replicate the superb swim she delivered earlier in the day.
“I was really happy with this morning and, to be honest, I was really happy with this evening with the circumstances that happened earlier on,” she added.
