Paralympics Day 2 as it happened: Ireland’s Róisín Ní Riain wins silver in 100m backstroke final

8am: Kerrie Leonard v Jiamin Zhou (Chn) (W2 Individual Compound Open Round of 16). Leonard lost 140-135.
9.50am: Katie O’Brien & Tiarnán O’Donnell (Para Rowing – PR2 mixed double sculls, heat one). Finished fourth in heat and go into repechage.
10.22am: Ellen Keane (Para Swimming – SB8 100m breaststroke, heat two). Dead heat with Brock Whiston for first place in Heat 2 and qualifies for tonight’s final.
10.30am: Ronan Grimes (Para Cycling Track – C4-5 1000m time trial qualifying). Finished in eighth place narrowly missing out on the final.
10.50am: Shauna Bocquet (Para Athletics – T54 5000m round one, heat two). Finished fourth and qualified for the final.
12.58pm: Josephine Healion with pilot Linda Kelly, Katie George Dunlevy with pilot Eve McCrystal (Para Cycling Track – B 1000m time trial qualifying). Dunlevy/McCrystal qualify for final in fifth place, Healion/Kelly miss out by one place in seventh.
3.34pm: Katie George Dunlevy/Eve McCrystal (Para Cycling Track – B 1000m time trial final). Finished fifth in the final.
6.51pm: Róisín Ní Riain (Para Swimming – S13 100m backstroke final). Finished second to take silver.
7.21pm: Ellen Keane (Para Swimming – SB8 100m breaststroke final). Finished fourth.
And with Ireland’s first medal in the bag, I’ll finish up for the night.
There are six Irish athletes in action on Saturday, so report back here bright and early.
Codladh sámh.
And Ireland’s first medallist of these Paralympics Róisín Ní Riain could still hardly believe her accomplishment by the time she spoke to RTÉ after the medal presentation.
“I definitely don’t think I’ve had time to let it sink in yet,” she said.
Paris is the 19-year-old’s second Games, but it’s a world away from the empty stadiums of Tokyo. “They’re two very different experiences, I’ve loved them both. I think I learnt so much from my experience in Tokyo that I’ve been able to take with me to this time around, it’s obviously very different having the crowd here, but in the best way possible. It’s great to have everyone who’s here to support me and be able to see me win a medal tonight, that means everything.”
“I left it all out there. I’m happy I tried and I can be proud of myself that I tried,” Ellen Keane said speaking to RTÉ after finishing fourth in the SB8 100m breaststroke final.
It was a tight race which saw her narrowly miss out on bronze.
Competing at her fifth and final Paralympics, the gold medallist from Tokyo added: “I think when it comes to being a champion, you can define that in many different ways, and it’s about being brave enough to show up and give it your all, and that’s what I did.
“When you reach the top that’s been your motivation the whole time and then you kind of think what’s next, and I just got so excited about other things outside of swimming and life outside of swimming, and I’m so grateful that I’m here today but I’m really looking forward to the next phase of my life.”
But don’t forget, she’s back in the pool on Tuesday for the S9 100m backstroke heats.
Róisín Ní Riain has been presented with her silver medal from the S13 100m backstroke final.
She looked very at home on that podium; I doubt it’ll be the last time we see her up there.
As Ian O’Riordan noted: “Her rise has been early and fast.” And that rise doesn’t look set to end any time soon.
[ Róisín Ní Riain: ‘I was very young, for Tokyo, I’ll be much more familiar when Paris comes around’Opens in new window ]
She’ll be back for the SM13 200m individual medley and SB13 100m breaststroke events next week, put it in the diary.
A disappointing result for Keane, but she’ll be back for the S9 100m backstroke event on Tuesday.
Gold went to Spain’s Anastasiya Dmytriv Dmytriv (yes, that’s her name – “so good they named her twice” as RTÉ’s John Kenny put it) and GB’s Brock Whiston took silver.
Viktoriia Ishchiulova from Russia, who is competing under the neutral flag, just pipped Ellen Keane in the final few meters of the race to take bronze.
Ellen Keane narrowly misses out on bronze, finishing fourth.
And they’re off!
Spain’s Anastasiya Dmytriv Dmytriv leads, Keane turns in third.
Keane will swim in lane three. She’s just emerged from the call room to another big cheer from the Irish contingent at La Défense.
That’s a tough act to follow, but if ever there was a woman able to perform on the big stage, it’s Ellen Keane.
The Dubliner is up next in the SB8 100m breaststroke final.
She’s the reigning Paralympic champion in the event from Tokyo, but this will be a fiercely competitive race.
So at her second Paralympic Games, 19-year-old Róisín Ní Riain has put herself on the podium.
Gordon Manning has this from La Défense Arena in Paris:
Róisín Ní Riain claimed Ireland’s first medal of the Paralympic Games with a superb swim to claim silver in the S13 100-metre backstroke final at the La Défense Arena in Paris tonight.
The 19-year-old Limerick swimmer, who finished fourth in the S13 100-metre butterfly final on Thursday night, delivered a brilliant second length in the backstroke showdown after an excellent turn at the halfway mark to push home for the silver medal.
Ní Riain, who is the current World Para swimming 100-metre backstroke champion, finished second in a time of 1:07.27. The race was won by world and Paralympic record holder Gia Pergolini from the USA in a time of 1:04.93. Italy’s Carlotta Gilli was third in a time of 1:08.08. It is Ní Riain’s first Paralympic medal.
A fantastic swim from the Limerick woman to earn Ireland’s first medal at the 2024 Paralympics.
Gold went to Gia Pergolini of Team USA, hitting the wall at 1:04.93. Ní Riain was back in 1:07.27, ahead of Italy’s Carlotta Gilli who took bronze.
Ní Riain finishes in second! Silver for Ireland!
Few minutes behind schedule, when are we not, but the athletes are emerging for the women’s S13 100m backstroke final.
Big cheer for Ní Riain.
Just a reminder on the classification system for para swimming, S13 events are for athletes with visual impairments.
Ní Riain will swim in lane five by virtue of having the second fastest entry time. It’s a straight final event, meaning there was no heat.
And who had the fastest entry time you ask? That’s USA’s Gia Pergolini, who will swim in lane four. She’s also the current world record holder, so Ní Riain is in great company.
But Róisín is a European and world champion in the event, so she’s capable of something special.
Evening all! Muireann Duffy here to take you through the para swimming finals at La Défense Arena.
In case you were out of the loop, Ireland has two swimmers taking to the pool shortly. First up is Róisín Ní Riain in the S13 100m backstroke final at 6.51pm, followed by Ellen Keane in the SB8 100m breaststroke final at 7.21pm.
Muireann Duffy will be here to take you through the two swimming finals tonight. Until then thank you for your company.
It’s all eyes on the swimming pool tonight at the La Défense Arena as Ireland’s Paralympic S8 100m Breaststroke champion from Tokyo Ellen Keane will try to defend that title in the final, for which she qualified as joint second fastest alongside Britain’s Brock Whiston and behind Spain’s heat one winner, Spain’s Anastasiya Dmytriv Dmytriv. Keane’s race is at 7.21pm tonight.
Half an hour earlier (6.51pm) Limerick’s Róisín Ní Riain goes in the S13 100m backstroke final in which like Keane she has a great medal opportunity.
Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal have finished fifth in the 1000 metres track tandem time trial. The Irish pair qualified fifth of six bikes for the final and maintaining that position in their final run in which they clocked a slightly slower time of 1.09.44 from this morning’s heats, commonplace amongst all the finalists. Britain took gold (Lizzie Jordan) and bronze (Sophie Unwin) while Australia’s Jessica Gallagher won the silver medal.
Britain’s Lora Fachie beats the Irish bike by about two tenths of a second. Three more to go all of whom were quicker this morning than Dunlevy/McCrystal.
Dunlevy/McCrystal finish in a time of 1.09.44 beating the Americans. It should be pointed out that this is not their preferred discipline. There are four bikes still to race.
Americans up front and then it will be the Irish tandem.
Earlier Ronan Grimes took to the track at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome for the opening race on the second day of the Paralympic Games. Competing in the qualifier for the Men’s C4-5 1000m Time Trial, Grimes posted a time of 1:05.521 a new national record and personal best.
Grimes finished in eighth place, with the top six progressing to the final this afternoon. Speaking afterwards he said: “I can’t believe it, I think going in I was nearly worried that I wouldn’t PB. I knew on the first lap, it felt like I was going fast. When I saw 1:05 on the board, I can retire happy now.”
When asked about the atmosphere, Grimes added: “When you’re warming up and you’re underneath the track and you just hear this noise, I thought it was my headphones making this kind of beat, but it’s the crowd up above. Knowing that you’ve family in there watching you, people at home, all the messages I’ve been getting to wish me good luck so you want to finish giving it your all!”
Grimes has an action-packed competition schedule for the remainder of the Games, he outlined his plan: “I think it’s the cliché of event by event, day by day, so today was the Kilo, tomorrow the Individual Pursuit, fingers crossed I can do a good ride there, hopefully I think I should have it in me, there’s good power in me now. Then next week onto the Time Trial, then the Road Race. Finishing on the Road Race is going to be the highlight.”
It’s nearly time for Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal to take the start line in the 1000 metres track time trial final. The former Paralympic champions would have to find three to four seconds on their qualifying time to medal.
Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal will compete in the final at 3.34 this afternoon. They’d have to find three seconds to medal in terms of the qualifying runs. I’ll be keep the updates going but will be back in earnest to watch how the Irish pair fare. See you soon.
Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal have qualified for the 1000m time trial track final, finishing filling fifth of six places. Ireland’s other representatives Josephine Healion and her sighted pilot Linda Kelly missed out on that final by one place, having placed seventh.
Dunlevy/McCrystal were beaten in their heat but have recorded the third fastest time and will make this afternoon’s final. Ireland’s other tandem Healion/Kelly drop to fifth ahead of the final heat. Six qualify.
Healion/Kelly drop to third with two heats left, one of which contains Dunlevy/McCrystal. Top six for the final.
But first it is Josephine Healion and her sighted pilot Linda Kelly in the 1000m time trial qualifying, and they have set a time of 1:10.808 which puts the Irish tandem top of the leaderboard for now. Six fastest will qualifying for the final.
Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal have been amongst the most successful Para Athletes ever to have represented Ireland having medalled consistently at World and Paralympic Games since 2014.
Dunlevy is based in Crawley, West Sussex and has a background in rowing, she has a visual impairment. McCrystal is one of Ireland’s best cyclists having won multiple individual titles. Here’s how good they are.
Honours
Paralympics Rio 2016 Gold Women’s 1km Time Trial B
Paralympics Rio 2016 Silver Women’s Road Race B
2021 UCI Para Cycling Road World Championships Tandem Time Trial Silver Medal
2021 UCI Para Cycling Road World Championships Road Race Silver Medal
2020 UCI Para Cycling Track World Championship Tandem Pursuit Silver Medal
2019 UCI Para Cycling Road World Championship Time Trial Gold Medal
2019 UCI Para Cycling Road World Championship Road Race Gold Medal
2018 UCI Para Cycling Road World Championship Time Trial Gold Medal
2018 UCI Para Cycling Road World Championship Road Race Gold Medal
2018 UCI Para Cycling Track World Championship 3km Pursuit Bronze Medal
2017 UCI Para Cycling Road World Championship Time Trial (B) Gold Medal
2017 UCI Para Cycling Road World Championship Road Race (B) Gold Medal
2015 UCI Para Cycling Track World Championship 3km Pursuit (B) Bronze Medal
2014 UCI Para Cycling Road World Championship Road Race (B) Silver Medal
Next for Ireland it’s a brace of tandem bikes, Josephine Healion with pilot Linda Kelly and Katie-George Dunlevy with pilot Eve McCrystal compete in the women’s B 1,000m time trial later in the day. The six fastest riders in the qualifiers will proceed to this afternoon’s final.
Ireland’s Ronan Grimes speaks to RTE’s Darren Frehill.
Ireland’s Shauna Bocquet on her Paralympic debut has made the T54 5000m final after finishing fourth in her heat at the Stade de France. She was in a breakaway group that stayed away.
Gordon Manning spoke to Ellen Keane after she qualified for tonight’s final. “I am just delighted, it was so exciting to get out there. Even seeing the girls race yesterday, I am sharing with Nicole Turner, seeing her get excited, I was delighted I wasn’t racing yesterday, but it really put me in the mood today.
“When I walk out for races, I have my headphones on, but just before I walked out, I pulled them back so I could hear the crowd and I could see the crowd. All of my friends and family, there is like 30 of them, they are all gathered together.
You gave then a wave. “That’s when you know you are in the faster end of the pack. You can kind of do those things, and I take it for granted a little bit, this is the last time I do it, so I may as well do it now if I am going to do it at all.
“I am really happy with it. It is 1:24. It is not as fast as I can go. I know I can go faster tonight. Had a little bit of fun with it. Was really in the moment. So really excited for tonight.”
Katie O’Brien from Galway and Tiarnán O’Donnell from Limerick finished fourth of five boats in their thunderstorm delayed heat of the PR2 mixed double sculls at Vaires-sur-Marne Stadium. They were over a minute behind the Chinese winners. The top two qualify for the final with the Irish pair set for the Repechage.
Ireland’s Ronan Grimes finishes eighth with only the top six going through to this afternoon’s final. It was a brave effort and the Galway native was in that top six until the final heat.
Grimes is on the bubble to make the final, sixth place with the final heat to come. Reigning Paralympic champion and world silver medallist in the heat.
Grimes fifth fastest overall. Two heats left. Squeaky time.
Grimes down to fourth with three more heats remaining. Top six qualify for the final.
Ireland’s Shauna Bocquet will make her Paralympic debut at the Stade de France shortly. The heats of the T54 5000m Bocquet will be in the second of the two heats. That second race will be around 11.10.
Grimes is now down to third fastest with about half the field gone.
Ronan Grimes in his second Paralympic Games recorded a time of 1.06.41 in the men’s C4-5 1,000m time trial qualifying round and is the early leader. The top six riders will qualify for this afternoon’s final and ride for medals.
Here is how Keane qualified for the final.
Spain’s Anastasiya Dmytriv Dmytriv posted the fastest time in winning heat one in 1:22.91 with Keane and Whiston recording a time of 1.24.59.
Keane in a dead heat for first place with England’s world record holder Brock Whiston and qualifies for tonight’s final. A broad smile and a big wave from the Irish woman. She will get a chance to defend her Paralympic title that she won in Tokyo in tonight’s final (7.21pm).
Keane leads after 50 metres.
Ellen Keane is racing.
Right it’s nearly time for Ellen Keane. A little over 10 minutes or so to be semi-precise.
Who’d have thought, a thunderstorm in Paris. Still it’s a chance to use this.
The cycling velodrome will be a focus for much of the morning as three Irish athletes will take to the track. Ronan Grimes, the Galway native, who found his way to Para-Cycling by an unorthodox root through the government’s Cycle to Work scheme, is back for his second Paralympic Games and will be in action in the men’s C4-5 1,000m time trial qualifying round.
Josephine Healion with pilot Linda Kelly and Katie-George Dunlevy with her longtime cycling buddy Eve McCrystal – they have more precious medal than most Irish athletes – compete in the women’s B 1,000m time trial later in the day. In each event, the six fastest riders in the qualifiers will proceed to the afternoon’s final.
Róisín Ní Riain has another chance at a medal after finishing an agonising fourth in Thursday’s S13 100m butterfly final. She wasn’t too despondent. “It was a good swim, obviously every time you get in, you’d like to PB. I was .04 off my PB so it’s probably as close as you can get. I’d definitely like to have been faster tonight but for day one it’s a good start and hopefully I can build on that for the rest of the week.”
The Limerick native on the experience so far: “It’s been really nice so far, it’s very different to Tokyo with having the crowd in Paris. It’s a lot of my families first time at a major international, so it’s nice to have them here.”
A transition year student at Gaelcholaiste Luimnigh when she made her Paralympic debut in Tokyo as the youngest member of Team Ireland, she will compete in one of her stronger disciplines the S13 100m backstroke final (18.51) tonight.
Our man is Paris, the suave, sophisticated, man about town, Gordon Manning will have to learn the art of bi and tri location but it’s well within the compass of someone who has travelled the GAA’s highways and byways. Prior to departing for the French capital he caught up with one of Ireland’s medal hopefuls, Ellen Keane.
[ Ellen Keane hoping to reprise her success from TokyoOpens in new window ]
Hello, good morning and welcome to the Irish Times blog. John O’Sullivan here and I will be taking you through the day’s events from the Paralympics in Paris. Irish medal hopefuls will be in the pool on the cycling track while also featuring in the disciplines of rowing and archery. Ireland’s golden girl from Tokyo, the effervescent Ellen Keane will take to the pool at 10.22 in the SB8 100m Breaststroke heats in a bid to qualify for tonight’s final (7.21pm), the first step to retaining her Paralympic crown.
Kerrie Leonard was first into action in the round of 16 elimination tie in the para-archery W2 individual compound open event. The Meath woman placed 21st in yesterday’s ranking round, scoring a season best of 653. She faced Rio gold medallist, China’s Zhou Jiamin who qualified 12th.
Leonard was level 82-82 after the third end of the contest, but her Chinese opponent finished the stronger moving into a 111-109 lead after end four before pulling away further in the fifth end to win 140-135.
Next up in an Irish context is para rowing, a sport to which Ireland returns as Muireann Duffy explains. “Ending the hiatus will be two westerners – Katie O’Brien from Galway and Tiarnán O’Donnell from Limerick. The duo will compete in the first heat of the PR2 mixed double sculls at Vaires-sur-Marne Stadium, with the first two finishers qualifying directly for Sunday’s A final.”