Róisín Ní Riain has finished fourth in the women's S13 100m butterfly Paralympic final at La Defense Arena in Paris.
The 19-year-old, who qualified as fifth fastest from this morning heats, was fifth at the turn, but a strong second 50m saw her move up a place and touch the wall in a time of 1:06.04.
Beaten to gold by Carlotta Gilli at the Para Swimming European Championships in April, it was the Italian again who came out on top, winning in 1:03.27, with Grane Nufher of the United States second and Uzbekistan’s Muslima Odilova claiming bronze.
There is little time for recovery as the University of Limerick student, who is competing in four events at the Games, returns to the pool tomorrow (6.44pm Irish time) in the 100m backstroke final.
Ní Riain enters the event as the reigning world champion.
"I'm happy with that swim," she told RTÉ Sport. "I would have liked to have been maybe under my PB, but it’s as close as you can get."
Content with how she pushed on at the turn, the teenager was philosophical over finishing one place off the podium, insisting it was something to build on ahead of her other events at the Games.
Róisín Ní Riain describes her fourth place finish in the S13 100m butterfly final as a good starting point for her Paralympic Games. #RTEparalympics #paris2024
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"I don’t think of it as a disappointing place to finish," she said. "It’s a place higher than I went into the heats this morning.
"This is my first swim of every championships. It’s always the first one that I get to go out and blow some of the cobwebs out.
"I try not to look at it as a disappointment, I try to look at every swim like an opportunity.
"It’s nice to have this swim to get in and have a good swim first."
Earlier Nicole Turner finished sixth in the women's S6 50m freestyle final.
The 21-year-old was Team Ireland's first finalist at the 2024 Paralympic Games having qualified as fifth fastest from this morning's heats in a time of 35.35.
A silver medallist from Tokyo, the Laois competitor had spoken about getting close or bettering her PB in order to challenge for a podium position (34.71), but was unable to do so, finishing in a time of 35.65.
China’s Yuyan Jiang, who set a new Paralympic record in the morning heats, won in another Paralympic record time of 32.59.
Ellie Marks of the USA took silver (32.90), with world record holder Anna Hontar of Ukraine third in 33.01.
"The reality of sport is every day is not a good day"
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"That was tough, I’m not going to lie," she told RTÉ Sport. "The objective of the heat is to get to a final, not to necessarily fix things, but to sharpen things up. It didn’t go my way, but I think it’s called a learning curve.
"That’s the reality of sport, not every day is a good day.
"It’s hard reaching the top, but it’s a way herder to stay there. When you get introduced into winning medals, it’s put on you then to stay good. It’s that bit harder.
"I am sure I will look back on today and see how I can improve on that performance, but an initial reaction is that it is quite bitter at this moment in time."
Turner will be back in the pool next Tuesday for the 50m butterfly heats and she is determined to refocus on that event.
"I have to treat it as a run for Tuesday," she said. "I have to forget about today and move on.
"Since Tokyo, it’s been a rocky road and part of it has been pressurised situations. I think that’s where I have performed at my best.
"As long as I come out of the pool on Tuesday knowing I gave it my all, I’ll be happy."
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