Paralympics Day 1: Limerick's Roísín Ní Riain hoping Tokyo experience can lead to Paris glory
MEDAL HOPE: Roisin Ni Riain on her way to winning the Women's 100m Breaststroke SB13 Final during day two of the Para Swimming European Championships. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Eighteen days after track cyclist Lara Gillespie pedalled herself to a standstill in the Omnium points race, Irish eyes return to Paris.
Eighteen days after the five-ring circus packed up and shipped out for Los Angeles, the International Paralympic Committee has moved in and pitched their tent in the French capital.
Holding camps out of the way, airport photo ops out of the way, having-to-pose-beside-Taoiseach-Simon-Harris-duties out of the way, opening ceremony traipsing and waving out of the way, Ireland’s team of 35 sit and stand ready to do what they came to Paris for: to compete and conquer.
A mere coincidence, but it seems rather fitting that Ireland’s opening competitors of these Paralympic Games should come in the pool.
Slightly more so than at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome and on the roads around Paris, it is in the temporary waters of La Défense Arena where Ireland’s outstanding medal hopes lie.
Where Lara Gillespie brought the curtain down on Ireland’s most successful ever Olympic Games, Nicole Turner and 17-year-old Dearbhaile Brady will take to the blocks beside one another in the second heat of the S6 50m freestyle at 9.43am this morning to begin Irish involvement in the second of Paris’ summer stagings.
Turner won joint gold in this event at April’s European Championships, Brady beside her on the podium wearing bronze.
But where Turner, ranked fifth, should secure a lane in Thursday evening's final, the Derry teenager will need a lifetime best effort to finish in the top eight across the two morning heats.
Following them onto the pool deck less than half an hour later is Roísín Ní Riain. The Limerick teenager is signed up for four different events in the water. The S13 100m butterfly is her second strongest of the four.
The final is in the Day One diary for 7.15pm Irish time. Expect Ní Riain to be present and pushing.
A five-time finalist three years ago, Tokyo was learning and taking part. The goals for Paris are as much changed as the distance between the two capitals. Paris is about performing. Podiums too.
“I learned so much when I was there, I was only 16,” Ní Riain says of her debut Games.
“For me, the last time around, it was all about going, taking in everything, and getting the experience. Even over the couple of years after that, Worlds and Europeans, I definitely think I've learned so much more every time I get out.
“I'm a bit older now, there's definitely a little bit more pressure and expectation that comes with that. For me, I always try and bring it back to doing as well as I can do and being happy with that.
"At the end of the day, I go out there to swim my best, swim PBs, and see where that gets me then.”
The expectation is there because of what she’s done on the international stage since Tokyo. Although only 19 since May, Ní Riain has long established herself as a leading butterfly exponent and backstroker in the S13 class over 100m.
She won double bronze at the 2022 World championships. A year later, she upgraded for gold in the backstroke and silver in the butterfly.
Her 100m butterfly best of 1:06-dead from last year is over three seconds improved on where she was in Tokyo. For the uninitiated, that’s a lot of water.
“That's what gives you confidence; setting goals, being able to achieve those goals, and setting new ones.
"When you hit some of those goals, it gives you the confidence when you're standing behind the block before you race, knowing the hard work you put in. That gives you that extra boost that you need.”
Archer Kerrie Leonard will wheel out onto the lush lawns of Esplanade des Invalides for her qualifying round at 12 noon. She’ll fire 72 arrows at the target, her final score determining her seeding for Friday and Saturday’s elimination rounds.
The higher the score, the higher the seeding among the field of 28, and the less vaunted her opponents will be in the early elimination rounds.
Over at the velodrome, Richael Timothy is the first Irish cyclist in action. The C1-3 3,000m individual pursuit is the first of four events she’ll compete in across track and road.
Along with Saturday week’s road race, Timothy deems today’s individual pursuit her strongest event. Let’s see what she can do.
Martin Gordon and Damien Vereker, and their respective pilots Eoin Mullen and Mitchell McLaughlin, go in the B 4,000m individual pursuit just before lunchtime.
“I don't want to go there for fifth or fourth, I want to go there and push for podium,” says Gordon.
But how realistic is it to hold that aspiration?
“It is definitely within the wheelhouse.” Many more Irish athletes will share that mindset over the next 10 days.
Let the Games begin - again.
9.47am: Swimming, Women’s 50m freestyle S6 heat, Nicole Turner, Dearbhaile Brady
10.15am: Swimming, Women’s 100m butterfly S13 heat, Roísín Ní Riain
11.55am: Women’s C1-3 3,000m individual pursuit qualifying, Richael Timothy
12pm: Archery, Women’s individual compound open ranking round, Kerrie Leonard
12.41pm: Track Cycling, Men’s B 4,000m individual pursuit qualifying, Damien Vereker/Mitchell McLaughlin, Martin Gordon/Eoin Mullen
3.24pm: Track Cycling, Women’s C1-3 3,000m individual pursuit bronze final, Richael Timothy (should she qualify)
3.41pm: Track Cycling, Women’s C1-3 3,000m individual pursuit gold final, Richael Timothy (should she qualify)
3.59pm: Track Cycling, Men’s B 4,000m individual pursuit bronze final, Damien Vereker/Mitchell McLaughlin, Martin Gordon/Eoin Mullen (should either qualify)
4.13pm: Track Cycling, Men’s B 4,000m individual pursuit gold final, Damien Vereker/Mitchell McLaughlin, Martin Gordon/Eoin Mullen (should either qualify)
6.19pm: Swimming, Women’s 50m freestyle S6 final, Nicole Turner, Dearbhaile Brady (should either qualify)
7.15pm: Swimming, Women’s 100m butterfly S13 final, Roísín Ní Riain (should she qualify)
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