Róisín Ní Riain and Nicole Turner have qualified for their respective finals after a successful morning for Team Ireland in the pool at the La Defense Arena on the opening day of the Paralympic Games in Paris.
Both Ní Riain and Turner will be back in the water for their finals this evening. Turner’s S6 50-metre freestyle showdown is scheduled for 6.19 while Ní Riain’s S13 100-metre butterfly final is pencilled in for 7.15, both Irish time.
Ní Riain finished fourth in her heat with a time of 1:06.40, which was good enough for fifth fastest of the eight qualifiers. America’s Grace Nuhfer was the fastest qualifier with a time of 1:03.95.
Ní Riain was pleased to secure a place in the final.
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“It was a good swim to get started with and nice to kick off, I’ve been raring to go,” said the Limerick native. “It was a bit of fun getting out there this morning, happy, and back tonight so that’s a good start.
“I guess I’ll have to go back and have a look with my coach, sit down and see how it went, but happy with it for my first swim. “The goal this morning was always just to make it back tonight. We’ll get a bit of rest and recovery now and see how it goes tonight.”
Turner was third in her S6 50-metre freestyle heat and was also the fifth fastest of the eight qualifiers with a time of 35.35 seconds. China’s Yuyan Jiang was the fastest qualifier, setting a personal best with a time of 32.70.
Dearbhaile Brady was also in heat two alongside Turner and although the 17-year-old Derry swimmer just missed out on a place in the final with her fifth place finish, she posted a personal best time of 36.45 on what was her Paralympic debut.
