Paralympics: Ireland's top 10 medal hopes in Paris
HIGH HOPES: Ellen Keane of Ireland during a training session at the Paris La Défense Arena. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Paralympics Ireland CEO Stephen McNamara has said the goal is for between eight and 10 medals. The lower end of that scale is still one above the four gold, two silver, and one bronze brought home from Tokyo.
So, who are the athletes that can bring Ireland to their target and possibly into double digits on the medals table?
The 29-year-old’s fifth and final Games. The intention is to retire on the rostrum.
Her entry time of 1:21.43, which secured her silver at the 2023 Worlds, ranks her fourth of the 15 swimmers. Her lifetime best of 1:19.93, though, which she swam to win this event three years ago in the Japanese capital, would likely propel her into silver medal waters the same as last year.
Defence of her title will be a push. Great Britain’s Brock Whiston is the world record holder. That 1:13.83 clocking is five years old now. But even her 1:16.82 from last year’s World Championships still puts her several metres clear of the field.
Whiston was classified as a SB9 breaststroker for those 2023 World Championships but is back in Keane’s SB8 class for these Games.
Swam six different events in Tokyo. Made the final in five. Her highest placing was fifth. The expectation - a once dangerous and crippling commodity that was squashed by a whole host of Irish athletes in recent weeks - is that she will medal in not one but two events here.
This Friday evening is when the Limerick teenager will attempt to leave her mark. Her 100m backstroke final, of which she is the current World champion, arrives half an hour before Ellen Keane’s breaststroke final. What an evening at La Défense Arena that may yet prove.
The lesser of Ní Riain’s medal chances comes in the butterfly. We say lesser even though she was second at last year’s Worlds and second again at Europeans earlier this year.
The visually impaired 19-year-old from Drombanna, on the outskirts of Limerick City, has the credentials to be Ireland’s gold medal girl of these Games.
Silver medalist from Tokyo. Has designs on replicating that feat at this her third Games. But to even make any step of the podium will be incredibly tight.
The three women who edged her out of the medals at last year’s Worlds - world-record holder Jiang Yuyan, Verena Schott, and Ellie Marks - are all here in Paris. Turner won’t want any repeat of that sinking, outside-in-the-cold feeling from Manchester 12 months ago.
The 21-year-old Portarlington native arrives in the French capital in strong and medal form. She climbed the rostrum on four occasions, including a silver in her favoured butterfly stroke, at the European Championships in April.
Broke his femur last September when a part of his prosthetic leg came off. Come December, he wasn’t allowed to swim for more than 30 minutes per session. Come April of this year, he won a first European medal - bronze - in a lifetime best performance. The 22-year-old Newtownards man is Ireland’s outside shot in the pool.
Ireland’s outstanding track hope. On season’s best times, she is the fastest in the field of 13. That season’s best of 11.90 is also her personal best. The 26-year-old dipped under the 12-second barrier for the first time in the same race as Rhasidat Adeleke broke the 100m Irish record at June's National championships.
Comerford, who missed the 2022 season to focus on strengthening her troublesome hamstrings, missed out on a medal at last year’s Worlds by 0.06 of a second. Orla has Stargardt’s disease, a degenerative condition that affects her central vision.
Already a five-time Paralympic medalist. Gold and silver in Rio, in the time trial and road race, was followed by double gold and a silver in Tokyo, in the time trial, road race, and individual pursuit.
All five medals were won with Eve McCrystal as her pilot. Theirs has been a formidable partnership for a decade now. And while they will again partner on the track, Linda Kelly will be Dunlevy’s Paris pilot on the road.
The latter pair owned the road last year. They claimed overall victory at the Para cycling World Cup before double gold at the Para cycling Road World Championships.
In an untimely disruption to her final Paris preparations, Dunlevy shattered her collarbone in a cycling crash in May.
First Paralympics for the 28-year-old vision-impaired Tullamore woman. The aforementioned Kelly will be her pilot on the track, McCrystal on the road.
Healion and Kelly won bronze in the women’s tandem road race at the 2022 Para cycling Road World Championships.
Multiple medal winner at both European and World Championship level. A Paralympic podium is the last missing piece to his collection.
Was an agonising fourth in the individual pursuit at the 2021 Games. He also went close in the time trial, finishing sixth.
The 35-year-old from Athenry, who has a club foot, left his job in January and has trained full-time since.
Played soccer for Ireland at U15 and U17 level alongside now senior captain Katie McCabe. Her life - and sporting pursuits - changed drastically when she suffered an acquired brain injury caused by treatment for a rare condition known as Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia. It left her with only 30% power in her left leg.
“The hope is to get a top six, but you could get a top six or bronze medal, it’ll be that tight,” said the 29-year-old from Ballymoe on the Galway side of the Roscommon border.
The Shoreham-by-Sea native competed for Great Britain until 2017, switching allegiances the following year. These are her debut Games in green. Enjoying a winning 2024. Cava, 32, was first across the line in the World Series events at Devonport and Swansea.
Both of those wins were in the PTS3 class. In Paris, she competes in the PTS4 class, which comprises the leading triathletes from the PTS3 and PTS4 classes.
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