ORLA Comerford and Róisín Ní Riain claimed bronze medals for Ireland in last night’s action at the Paralympics in Paris.
Three-time Paralympian Comerford dashed to a bronze medal in the T13 100m final, finishing behind world record-breakers Lamiya Valiyeva of Azerbaijani and Brazil’s Rayane Soares da Silva.
The front three blazed ahead of the chasing pack and Comerford, who qualified for the final after a dominant first-place finish in her heat in a time of 12.02, was comfortably in the top three from way out.
The Dublin sprinter made her Paralympics debut in Rio eight years ago when she was just 18 and she qualified for the T13 100m final back then, finishing eighth.
She won a bronze medal at the European Championships in the 100m and 200m in 2018, and Comerford, one of Ireland’s flag-bearers at this year’s Paris Paralympic opening ceremony, went on to represent Ireland again at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“It feels like a dream,” Comerford explained after the race.
“It’s also just a roller-coaster of emotions, it’s not the medal I had dreamed of, but a Paralympic medal is such a privilege, it’s such an honour.
“I knew, looking at it a year ago, I knew it was going to take a world record to win it and that’s what I had my eyes on, so I feel for myself I’ve fallen short of that. But I don’t doubt that’s in me, I don’t doubt that I have more.
“I’m just really excited to put the grind in for the next four years and hopefully come away with the medal I’ve always dreamed of.”
Swimmer Ní Riain collected her second medal of the Games when she claimed bronze in the women’s 200m medley SM13, the only one of four Irish swimmers that made their respective finals last night to earn a place on the podium.
The 19-year-old Limerick swimmer won Ireland’s first Paralympic medal with a strong second length in her S13 100m backstroke final on Friday evening before doubling her personal haul last night.
Ní Riain just nipped ahead of Uzbekistani swimmer Shokhsanamkhon Toshpulatova with a finishing time of 2:27.47, while Italy’s Carlotta Gilli and Olivia Chambers of USA claimed the gold and silver places.
Barry McClements finished in eighth place in the men’s 100m backstroke S9 final with a time of 1:05.56.
The Newtownards swimmer qualified for the final on Tuesday morning with a fourth-place finish in a time of 1.05.35.
Belarusian swimmer Yahor Shchalkanau, competing under the Neutral Paralympic Athlete (NPA) flag, captured the gold medal in a time of 1:00.76, while Ugo Didier of France and Bogdan Mozgovoi (also representing NPA) picked up the silver and bronze medals.
Dearbhaile Brady along with Nicole Turner were Ireland’s representatives in the women’s 50m butterfly S6 and both finished outside the top three.
China’s Jiang Yuyan and Liu Daomin claimed the top two spots, collecting the gold and silver medals, while the bronze medal went to Mayara Do Amaral Petzold of Brazil.
County Derry swimmer Brady, making her Paralympics debut, just missed out on a medal, by finishing in fifth place in a time of 37.67, while Turner placed sixth out of eight, finishing the swim in 38.59.
Turner had finished in third place in the qualifying swim, with a time of 38.10 and she was followed by Brady who came in fourth place with a time of 38.73, seeing them both reach the final.
Ellen Keane was also in action yesterday morning in the S9 100m Backstroke qualifier. She came in sixth place with a time of 1.17.63, just outside of her 1.15.44 PB in the event which she recorded in Rio 2016, but it wasn’t enough to qualify for the final.