In her S13 100-metre butterfly final at the Paralympic Games, Róisín Ní Riain from Limerick narrowly missed placing on the podium, coming in fourth at La Défense Arena on Thursday night. The competition was tight as she came within striking distance of third place during the second half of the race. However, her effort of 1:06.04 fell short of beating Muslima Odilova from Uzbekistan’s 1:05.43 timing.
The swimmer from Italy, Carlotta Gilli, took the gold with her 1:03.27 finish, while Grace Nuhfer of the US claimed silver with 1:03.88. Earlier in the day, Ní Riain recorded a time of 1:06.40, making her the fourth fastest in her heat and qualifying her as the fifth fastest of the eight contenders.
Ní Riain, who currently holds the world record for 100-metre backstroke in World Para swimming and the 200-metre backstroke, is set to compete in the straight final of the S13 100m backstroke, her strongest discipline, on Friday evening.
On the same day, Nicole Turner, another swimmer from Laois, came in sixth in her S6 50-metre freestyle final during the first night of the pool finals. Her time was slightly slower in the final, with a timing of 35.65 seconds, than in her morning heat, where she produced a timing of 35.35 seconds.
China’s Yuyan Jiang won the race, breaking the Paralympic record for the second time that day with a time of 32.59 seconds. Meanwhile, Ellie Marks of USA got silver (32.90), and Ukraine’s Anna Hontar went home with the bronze medal (33.01).
Three years ago in Tokyo, Turner clinched silver in the S6 50m butterfly, but during her most recent heat, she could only secure the third spot in the morning session, ranking fifth amongst the eight qualifiers. Her performance didn’t earn her a place on the podium in the final freestyle swim.
She expressed, “Truthfully, that was challenging. The goal of the final is to surpass one’s heat swim time. Unfortunately, today didn’t unfold in my favour. As to the reasons, I currently can’t pinpoint why. However, the essence of sports is experiencing the extremes of joy and disappointment.”
She further reflected, “As time goes on, I’ll review today’s events and recognise areas for improvement. Yet, my initial feelings are quite a disappointment.”
Fans of Turner can anticipate her return on the sixth day in the 50m butterfly, which is known to be her dominant category.