Irish Participants in Paralympics Competitions
The upcoming para cycling, para athletics and para equestrian events will feature seven participants from Team Ireland on Wednesday. These will include athletes across various disciplines, the schedule for which is as follows:
Richael Timothy will commence her day in the C1-3 individual time trial at 8.02am. Later the day will see Shauna Bocquet taking part in the T54 100m heats at 11.08am and Sarah Slattery will make her appearance in the grade V individual event of Para Equestrian at 11.55am.
Moving on, Damien Vereker will be participating in the B individual time trial in the para cycling road at 12.30pm. At 1.11pm, Ronan Grimes will be seen in action in the C4 individual time trial of para cycling road.
The day will proceed with Josephine Healion and Katie-George Dunlevy, who will be contesting against each other yet again, this time in B individual time trial of para cycling road at 1.44pm. Shauna Bocquet will conclude the day by participating in the T54 100m final in para athletics at 7.34pm.
Among these participants, Richael Timothy will be seen again after previously competing in the C1-3 500m time trial and 3,000m individual pursuit events in the velodrome, which are the road cycling events. She will be the fourth one to be seen among 16 riders.
Post-Lunch, Damien Vereker will be seen participating in the individual time trial where he will be riding second in the B category, followed by Ronan Grimes who will be competing in the same event in the C4 category, being the sixth one to set off. Last but not least, the day will conclude with Josephine Healion and Katie-George Dunlevy competing in the B individual time trial where Healion will go second and Dunlevy last, of the ten riders.
Shauna Bocquet, the athlete from Galway, is preparing for her third participation in the T54 100m event at the Stade de France during these games. Previously, she secured eighth place in T54 5,000m finale on Saturday and then contended in the T54 1,500m event on Monday, where she came in sixth in the heat but sadly missed out on qualification for the final race.
Bocquet’s final sprint in Paris will see her in the second 100m heat’s sixth lane on Wednesday. Direct access to the evening final would be granted to the top three from both heats and the swiftest two from the remainder of the contingent.
The spotlight then switches to Château de Versailles, where Sarah Slattery, the final member of Ireland’s para equestrian team, is poised to perform. Slattery will be the eleventh to enter the arena out of seventeen participants, straddling her horse, Savona, as team-mates Kate Kerr-Horan, Jessica McKenna, and Michael Murphy have already engaged in their individual events on Tuesday. The top eight performers from the initial round will contest in the freestyle stage for medals.
The onset of para cycling road events, with considerable Irish representation, arrives on Wednesday. A hectic day of cycling will be inaugurated by the C5 women’s individual time trial, with a total of 19 out of 34 road cycling competitions expected to last over seven hours.
The path of this arduous route will be in Seine-Saint-Denis, an area in Paris that will also host four marathons on Sunday. Featuring a 140m uphill climb, the 14.2km track is adaptable to host various event distances.
Seine-Saint-Denis, situated on the city’s northwest side, is a true Paralympics epicentre, housing several key game venues, including Stade de France and the Athletes’ Village. Spectators enjoy the perk of free access to the entire circuit, guaranteeing plenty of cheer for the athletes.