Darragh McDonald won a bronze medal in the final of the 400m Freestyle (S6 class) at the Paralympic Swimming World Championships in Glasgow this evening in a time of 5:12.61.
The 21-year-old swam a season's best performance in the heats this morning to qualify for the final and was just over a second outside that time in the final.
London 2012 gold medallist McDonald won 400m Freestyle gold at the 2013 World Championships but the Gorey athlete not compete at last year's European Championships due to surgery.
Teenager Nicole Turner, who is just 13 and making her World Championship debut, raced brilliantly to finish fifth in the final of the 400m Freestyle (S6 class) in a time of 6:01.54; just .05 of a second off the personal best she set this morning in the heats to qualify for the final.
Ranked tenth in this event at the outset Turner exceeded expectations by making the final.
Earlier, Dubliner Ellen Keane swam an impressive personal best in her heat of the 100m Backstroke recording a time of 1:18.69; over 1.5 seconds quicker than her previous best of 1:20.23. However, the National Aquatic Centre club swimmer narrowly missed out on a place in the final.
The World Championships are a key milestone on the road to Rio 2016 Paralympic Games qualification. Swimmers who win gold and silver in their events earn automatic qualification slots for their country.
For the others the highest possible finish is vital as the remaining slots are allocated based on world rankings in 2016.
