Derbhaile Brady set a personal best in finishing fifth in her 200m individual medley at the Para Swimming World Championships in Singapore, on a day when Deaten Registe and Barry McClements failed to progress from their respective heats.
Brady, who made her Paralympic Games debut in Paris and medalled at the European Championships in Madeira last year, made a blistering start in her SM6 event.
The 18-year-old attacked hard on the butterfly to lead the five swimmers through at the 50 metre mark.
However, the Chinese pair of Ji Zhu and Daomin Liu, Germany's Verena Schott and Grace Harvey made significant headway on the backstroke to ease past the Derry woman.
Brady touched the wall in a time of 3:18.13, with Zhu taking gold with a commanding display ahead of compatriot Liu in second and Harvey in bronze.
"I think that swim went really, really well, I mean I was quite nervous coming into it but It's good to have them nerves it means you want a really good race," Brady said afterwards.
She will return to the pool for the 50m freestyle (Thursday), 100m breaststroke (Friday) and 50m butterfly (Saturday).
In his 100m butterfly event, McClements (pictured below) swam a time of 1:03.29 and was left to rue a below-par performance.
"I'm not too happy with the race at all," he said. "I’m two seconds off my PB and not close enough to a final. It’s disappointing."
He will return to the pool on Friday for the S9 100m backstroke.
On Wednesday Róisín Ní Riain and Síomha Nic Brádaigh are back in the pool, with both women competing in the 100m backstroke in their respective classes. Ní Riain's S13 event is a direct final.
