Ireland’s Róisín Ní Riain clinched a fantastic bronze medal for Ireland on the opening day of the Madeira 2022 World Para Swimming Championships.
The young Limerick athlete who was the youngest squad member of Team Ireland at the Paralympic Games, produced a superb finish to hold off Poland's Joanna Mendak and claim bronze by by just a quarter of a second.
Ní Riain, who qualified for the final after swimming 1:10 earlier in the heats, knocked nearly a second off that time as she powered through to edge out her Polish competitor and clinch bronze at her first ever Senior World Championships.
Speaking immediately after the race Róisín said ‘I’m absolutely delighted, I wasn’t expecting it, I was hoping but I wasn’t expecting it so I am absolutely thrilled.'
Brilliant Bronze 🥉 for @riain_roisin 🥉 on Day 1 of @Para_swimming World Championships in 100m Butterfly S13🤩#parswimming pic.twitter.com/sRWxJnKmL2
— Ellen Keane PLY💜 (@keane_ellen) June 12, 2022
This marks the start of a busy week for Ní Riain who will compete for more times, including tomorrow when she will again compete for a medal in the SB13 100m Backstroke Final.
Earlier today Ellen Keane confirmed that she will not race in her Individual Medley event but will compete on Saturday in the SB8 Breaststroke heats, the same event in which she secured her Paralympic Gold medal. Ireland’s newest Para Swimmer, Amy Sheridan also had the honour of being the flag bearer for Team Ireland and was joined for the ceremony by Ellen Keane.
Day 2-Monday June 13
Róisín Ní Riain, Women’s SB13 100m Backstroke Final
Day 3-Tuesday June 14
Nicole Turner, SM6 200m Individual Medley Heat
Barry McClements, S9 100m Butterfly Heat
Amy Sheridan, S9 100m Butterfly Heat
Day 4- Wednesday June 15
Róisín Ní Riain, S13 100m Backstroke Final
Day 5- Thursday June 16
Barry McClements, S9 400m Freestyle Heats
Nicole Turner, S6 50m Freestyle Heats
Day 6- Friday June 17
Róisín Ní Riain, S13 400m Freestyle Final
Barry McClements S9 100m Backstroke Heat
Nicole Turner SB6 100m Breaststroke Heat
Day 7- Saturday June 18
Róisín Ní Riain, SM13 200m Individual Medley Final
Nicole Turner, S6 50m Butterfly Heat
Ellen Keane, SB8 100m Breaststroke Heat
