The three-peat wasn’t to be for Róisín Ní Riain as she came up just short on Thursday evening of winning a third medal in the pool for Ireland in these Paralympic Games.
The Limerick swimmer finished fourth in the S13 100m breaststroke final at the La Défense Arena, touching the wall just over six tenths of a second behind America’s Colleen Young in third place.
It has been a career-defining Games for the 19-year-old Limerick swimmer as over the last week she has announced herself as a new star of Irish Para swimming.
She will bring two medals home in her luggage from Paris, one silver and one bronze. She qualified for the finals in all four of her disciplines. She won Ireland’s first medal in Paris. She has been a spark for the team. She’s played her part, and then some.
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And yet there was no disguising Ní Riain’s disappointment in the aftermath of Thursday’s fourth-place finish. She had also come fourth in the butterfly final last Thursday, but this one stung more.
“I’m obviously disappointed with that swim, it’s not what I wanted but it’s all part of it,” said Ní Riain afterwards.
“With the good swims there are the bad swims as well, I can only learn from it. People were trying to put out that I was kind of disappointed after that [butterfly] final, I definitely wasn’t.
“But I’m disappointed with that [breaststroke] one. I went into that final third and came out fourth so obviously that is not what I wanted.
“I hope I’ll be able to look back in a bit and be happy with my performances but I’m disappointed with that. I probably got a bit too excited, definitely didn’t hit some of the things I needed to but it’s all learning.”
Ní Riain was fastest out of the blocks on Thursday evening but found herself fourth at the turn and she just couldn’t make up the gap over the second 50.
She came home in 1:19.16, with Young touching the wall in 1:18.52. The race was won by Britain’s Rebecca Redfern in 1:16.02, while silver was claimed by USA’s Olivia Chambers in 1:17.70.
Ní Riain had finished second in her heat with a time of 1:19.05 in the morning session on Thursday and advanced to the final as the third-fastest qualifier overall, so her final swim was slower.
“I’m sure my coach will have plenty to say about it and definitely about that second 50, but it’s all stuff I can learn from and improve each time,” she added.
“I don’t really remember much of the race, to be honest. I had a good start but it wasn’t there in the end and I definitely had a very bad finish.”
Given the steely determination Ní Riain has brought to the La Défense Arena on each occasion she took to the pool over the last week, it can be easy to forget she is still just 19.
These were her second Paralympic Games and by the time LA comes around in four years the experiences she gained in Paris will almost certainly have helped forge an even more formidable swimmer.
She finished fourth in the S13 100m butterfly last Thursday before securing her first medal with a second-place finish in S13 100m backstroke on Friday.
She swam to third in the S13 200m individual medley on Tuesday and there was another fourth on Thursday evening in the S13 100m breaststroke.
“Yeah, for sure, coming here and getting two medals, that’s exactly what I wanted,” the UL student added.
“Definitely happy with that, obviously disappointed right now with that swim but I’ll be able to look back and I’ll be happy.
“I always have expectations of myself. I know what I’m capable of, I’m definitely capable of more than that swim there. But to come away with two medals, I’m happy with that.”
Fourth place has become an unwanted landing zone for Irish athletes during these Games – Ní Riain finished there twice in finals, Ellen Keane also had a fourth-place swim, while Greta Streimikyte finished one place outside the medals in her 1,500m final on the track at the Stade de France.
All five of Ireland’s medals at these Games have been won by female athletes with a vision impairment – Ní Riain (two), Katie-George Dunlevy (two) and Orla Comerford (one).
Dunlevy spoke on Wednesday about inspiring children and Ní Riain realises the importance of what Irish Para athletes have been doing on the biggest stage in Paris.
“Exactly what Katie said, it’s great to have that for us and for younger kids to be able to look up and see that, that’s really great. I definitely would have liked to have had that when I was younger.”
Over the last week, despite still being a teenager herself, Róisín Ní Riain has been a swimmer in the arena inspiring the next generation.
