Róisín Ní Riain, an Irish swimmer from Limerick, narrowly missed winning her third medal at the Paralympic Games on Thursday evening. In the S13 100m breaststroke final at the La Défense Arena, Ní Riain secured fourth place, finishing just over half a second adrift from Colleen Young of America, who came third.
The Paralympics proved to be a pivotal moment in the 19-year-old swimmer’s career. She emerged as a new shining figure in Irish Para swimming over the past week. Two medals, a silver and a bronze, will be in her possession when she returns home from Paris. Ní Riain also shone by qualifying for the finals in all of her four categories and winning the first medal for Ireland in Paris. Her contribution to the team has been significant.
Regardless, Ní Riain couldn’t help but express her disappointment following her fourth-place performance on Thursday. She had already experienced a fourth-place finish in the butterfly final the previous Thursday, but this defeat tasted particularly bitter.
Ní Riain was frank about her disappointment with her performance, admitting that it fell short of her expectations. Nonetheless, she recognised it as part of the process, noting that for every successful performance, there are also unsuccessful ones. Ní Riain stressed that she had not been upset about the butterfly final, contrary to what some might have assumed. However, she was certainly affected by her breaststroke performance, given that she dropped from third to fourth. She demonstrated optimism about learning from her experiences and hoped to soon reflect positively on her performances, despite her initial disappointment.
On Thursday evening, Ní Riain was the quickest off the mark but ended up in fourth position at the turn, unable to close the gap in the second half of the 50. She completed her swim in 1:19.16. However, Young was slightly quicker, reaching the wall in a time of 1:18.52. The champion of the race turned out to be Britain’s Rebecca Redfern with an impressive timing of 1:16.02 while USA’s Olivia Chambers bagged the silver with a time of 1:17.70.
Despite finishing second in her heat with a recorded time of 1:19.05 during Thursday’s morning round and qualifying for the final as the third fastest contestant, Ní Riain had a slower final swim. “There will surely be some feedback from my coach, especially regarding that second 50, but it’s all contribute to my learning and improvement,” she stated.
As Ní Riain reflected, she didn’t have a clear memory of the race. Whilst her start was good, she acknowledged that her finish wasn’t up to mark. “I had a decent beginning but fell short towards the end. Indeed, my finish was quite unsatisfactory.”
Despite her unfaltering commitment in all her appearances in the La Défense Arena’s pool over the previous week, it’s easy to overlook that Ní Riain is merely 19. Her experiences from these, her second Paralympic Games, will no doubt shape her into an even more formidable swimmer when she returns for the LA event in four years.
She came fourth in the S13 100m butterfly the previous Thursday and went on to bag her first medal with a second place in the S13 100m backstroke on Friday. She then swam to a third-place finish in the S13 200m individual medley on Tuesday, and ended up in fourth place again in the S13 100m breaststroke on Thursday night.
“Yeah, no doubts there, getting two medals in this event was precisely my goal,” the university student conveyed. “Although I am disappointed with this swim, looking back, I am sure I will view this achievement positively. I am aware of what I am capable of and I know that I could have performed better than today. However, taking two medals home makes me feel satisfied,” she added.
Despite consistently ranking fourth in the Games, it’s been a tough run for Irish athletes. Ní Riain narrowly missed the podium twice in final assessments, alongside Ellen Keane who similarly achieved an unfortunate fourth in swimming. Greta Streimikyte also just missed out on a medal position in her 1,500m track finish at the Stade de France.
Of all the medals this nation has earned during these Games, it’s been female athletes with vision impairments who have been the victors. Two each were secured by Ní Riain and Katie-George Dunlevy, while Orla Comerford contributed one.
Dunlevy recently expressed pride in the athletes’ ability to inspire the younger generation, a sentiment echoed by Ní Riain. She spoke of the significance of Irish Para athletes’ achievements on an international stage in Paris, and the positive example it sets for the youth, wishing she had similar role models in her younger years.
Over the past week, despite her relative youth, Róisín Ní Riain has been an encouraging figure in the swimming scene for prospective athletes of the future.