The Irish para equestrian team, consisting of Sarah Slattery, Michael Murphy, and Kate Kerr-Horan, will be in action at 8.30, as will Ronan Grimes in the Men’s C4-5 road race. Barry McClements will compete in the Men’s S9 100m butterfly heats at 9.18, and Aaron Shorten in the T20 1,500m final at 9.43. A comprehensive guide details daily appearances of Irish Paralympians in Paris. Goncin is actively contributing towards his birthplace.
Katie-George Dunlevy, alongside Linda Kelly, hopes to add another gold to her recent time-trial victory, in the Women’s B road race starting and concluding at Clichy-Sous-Bois, with a distance of 99.2 kilometres. The pair last won silver at the global event in Paris. Healion and McCrystal will also participate in the same event.
In the Men’s road race covering 127.8 kilometres, the Irish flag will be carried by Damien Vereker and Mitchell McLaughlin, among 12 other bikes vying for the top spots. The C4-5 road race will see Grimes competing with 29 other bikes. Keep an eye out for McClements in the Men’s S9 100m butterfly final at 5.34pm, given he qualifies.
Barry McClements of Ireland is set to face off against Simone Barlaam, the top-notch Italian competitor, in the S9 100m butterfly. Barlaam is eager to replicate his exceptional performance in the S9 50 freestyle, where he outshone his competitors by more than a second and managed to shatter his own world record. Now, he aims to apply the same prowess to the S9 100m butterfly, with McClements standing as one of his challengers.
Aaron Shorten from Carlow, the only male contender in the athletics team, is preparing for the T20 1,500m. Debuting at the last year’s Para Athletics World Championships in Paris, the athlete from St Laurence O’Toole’s has been undergoing training under the esteemed coach Feidhlim Kelly since the start of the year.
In the team event of Para Equestrian, Ireland will field Sarah Slattery (Grade 5) with her horse Savona, Michael Murphy (Grade 1) accompanied by Cleverboy, and Kate Kerr-Horan (Grade 3) together with Lykkebo’s Don Akino.
Eye-Catching Tale
The American athlete, Ellie Marks, has an inspiring story. Slated to compete in the 2014 Invictus Games held in London, Marks found herself in a coma in Papworth Hospital, Cambridge due to a respiratory infection.
However, she made a comeback and secured four golds at the Invictus Games in 2016. As a gesture of gratitude, she presented one of the gold medals to the medical staff who helped save her life. In her Paralympic debut in Rio, she bagged a gold in breaststroke and later in Tokyo, she clinched S6 backstroke gold. Now she is focussing on defending her title.
The trio of Ambra Sabatini, Martina Caironi and Monica Contrafatto, from Italy, is expected to secure another clean sweep in the T63 100m (8.22pm) at the Para-athletics, repeating their triumphs in Tokyo and at the 2023 and 2024 Worlds.