Ellen Keane showed all of her experience to stage a dramatic comeback over the final 50 metres of her SB8 100m breaststroke final to clinch a silver medal in a thrilling World Para Swimming Championships final.
Keane, who qualified in first place for the final, raced out of lane 4 and she took over a second off that morning time to clock one minute 22.02 seconds.
Spain's Anastasiya Dmitriv grabbed gold, with Katarina Roxon of Canada claiming bronze.
"Coming here I just wanted to do my best," Keane, who contracted Covid-19 in the weeks before the meeting, said afterwards.
"The fastest I’ve swam all year was a 1:26, I wasn’t even expecting to go a 1:22 and I’m delighted with that."
Nicole Turner also secured a podium place in Madeira, with the Portarlington woman capturing bronze in the S6 50m butterfly final.
Turner, who had already claimed one bronze earlier this week, finished in a time of 37.18, just behind Ellie Marks from the USA and runner-up Sara Vargas Blanco of Colombia.
Turner said: "Looking back on Tuesday and today, I came here thinking I'd be in a fight for one medal, never mind bringing home two medals, so I am delighted."
Róisín Ní Riain missed out on a bronze medal in the final of the 200m individual medley SM13 final by the narrowest of margins.
Colleen Young of the USA finished first, with Gilli Carlotti of Italy and Young's compatriot Gia Pergolini filling the minor places.
Ní Riain, who bagged two bronzes in S13 backstroke and butterfly finals over 100m already, said: "You know, I didn’t have that many expectations of medals, so to come away with two medals I am very pleased with that."
