Róisín Ní Riain claimed her second medal of the Paris 2024 Paralympics by taking bronze in a dramatic finish in the S13 200m Individual Medley.
The Limerick swimmer, who got Ireland off the mark by taking silver in the 100m backstroke last Friday, swam a terrific last leg, overtaking Uzbekistan's Shokhsanamkhon Toshpulatova down the stretch to touch the wall in third place in a time of 2:27.47.
The race for gold was a ding-dong between Italy's Carlotta Gilli and USA's Olivia Chambers, with Toshpulatova and Ní Ríain not far behind as those four swimmers separated themselves from the rest of the field early on.
Ní Ríain trailed Toshpulatova for most of the race, touching the wall in fourth spot after three legs but dug deep to overhaul the Uzbeki swimmer in the final 15m.
Watch Ní Ríain double up in the pool
"I've been on the wrong side of the IM touches for the last three years so to be able to come out and finally get on the right side of a touch, I couldn't be happier," Ní Ríain told RTÉ Sport afterwards.
Delight for Róisín Ní Riaín as she finally got the touch to claim a medal in a medley event #RTEparalympics #paris2024
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 3, 2024
📺Watch @rte2 @rteplayer
📱Updates https://t.co/nBSbBucybs pic.twitter.com/CIf4Fr0rRl
Earlier in La Defense Arena, 17-year old Dearbhaile Brady had clocked a personal best time of 37.67 to place fifth in the final of the S6 50m butterfly, pipping her illustrious compatriot, Tokyo silver medallist Nicole Turner into sixth, the latter registering a time of 38.59.
The Limavaddy teenager Brady was overjoyed with her performance, telling RTÉ Sport afterwards "that went really well... it's a lot faster than what I went last year, that's how much I've changed within a year."
Before that, Barry McClements was reasonably satisfied with his performance as he finished eighth in the final of the S9 100m backstroke.
McClements, whose primary event is the 100m butterfly on Friday, clocked a time of 1:05.56, saying afterwards that he was happy with his display aside from an error on the turn.
