Heartbreak for Róisín Ní Ríain as She Narrowly Misses Out on Third Paralympic Medal
Róisín Ní Ríain closed her Paris 2024 Paralympic Games campaign with a fourth-place finish in the 100m Breaststroke SB13 Final, narrowly missing out on a third medal. The Irish para swimmer clocked a time of 1:19.16, just 0.64 seconds behind bronze medalist Colleen Young from Team USA, who finished in 1:18.52. The race was won by Great Britain’s Rebecca Redfern, who took gold with a dominant 1:16.02, while Olivia Chambers, also from Team USA, secured silver in 1:17.70.
Ní Ríain was quick off the blocks, leading at the start of the race and powering through the first 50 metres strongly. However, despite her early burst, she found herself in fourth place after the turn and couldn’t quite close the gap on Young in the final stretch.
After the race, Ní Ríain expressed her disappointment but remained philosophical: “I’m disappointed, I’m not going to lie, but that’s part of it. With the good swims you have the bad swims. I hope I’ll be able to look back in a bit and be happy with my performances, but disappointed with that.”
Reflecting on her performance, Ní Ríain admitted she may have pushed too hard early on: “I probably got a bit too excited, definitely didn’t hit some of the things I needed to, but it’s all learning. Coming here and getting two medals is definitely something I wanted, so I’m happy with that.”
Despite falling short of the podium in her final race, Ní Ríain leaves Paris with two Paralympic medals, having won silver in the 100m Backstroke (S13) and bronze in the 200m Individual Medley (SM13). Under the guidance of coach John Szaranek at the National Centre in Limerick, the young Irish star continues to establish herself as one of Ireland’s brightest para-athletes.
Ní Ríain also highlighted the importance of representation for young people with visual impairments: “For vision-impaired kids to be able to see people like them is really nice. I definitely would have liked to have had that when I was younger.”
While Ní Ríain’s racing has come to a close, the action continues for Team Ireland, with Barry McClements set to compete in the Men’s 100m Butterfly (S9) tomorrow morning, kicking off at 9:18am.
Day 8 Paralympics Games Evening Results (Thursday, 5th September)
• Róisín Ní Ríain, Para Swimming, SB13 100m Breaststroke Final – 1:19.16 (4th place)
Day 9 Paralympic Games Schedule (Friday, 6th September)
• 08:30 – Ronan Grimes, Para Cycling (Road), C4-5 Road Race
• 09:18 – Barry McClements, Para Swimming, S9 100m Fly Heat 1
• 09:58 – Aaron Shorten, Para Athletics, T20 1500m Final
• 10:19 – Sarah Slattery, Para Equestrian Team Dressage, Grade V
• 12:00 – Damien Vereker & Mitchell McLaughlin, Para Cycling (Road), Men’s B Road Race
• 12:10 – Katie George Dunlevy & Linda Kelly (Pilot), Para Cycling (Road), Women’s B Road Race
• 12:10 – Josephine Healion & Eve McCrystal (Pilot), Para Cycling (Road), Women’s B Road Race
• 12:55 – Michael Murphy, Para Equestrian Team Dressage, Grade I
• 15:12 – Kate Kerr-Horan, Para Equestrian Team Dressage, Grade III
• 17:35 – Barry McClements, Para Swimming, S9 100m Fly Final*