Paralympic Diary Day 6 & Preview of Day 7

The days action was dominated by Para Swimming with five Irish athletes competing in the morning heats and four qualifying for finals that same evening.

Nicole Turner qualified for the 50m Butterfly S6 Final alongside her team mate Dearbhaile Brady. Ultimately, it wasn’t to be for Turner and she lost on a podium position finishing in sixth place. Speaking afterwards Nicole said: “If I’m honest I just wanted to go out and enjoy that race, I did it but I think the last couple of metres I just didn’t have it in me. The podium would have been nice today but it just didn’t happen. I planned to get quicker off the block and I didn’t feel that bad but I’ve worked so hard to be here and for that I’m delighted to be in Paris, not everyone gets the opportunity to compete at a Paralympics Games.”

Nicole, first tried out Para Athletics in IWA before finding Para Swimming, a sport in which she has competed at the highest level. In the midlands region you can play Wheelchair Rugby with Laois Lions, Wheelchair Basketball with South East Swifts and Clonaslee.

Clontarf’s, Ellen Keane also took to the pool this morning for what was to be her final competitive swim in a Paralympic Games. She missed out on qualification coming sixth in her heat. An emotional Ellen gushed: “It’s really hard to put into words how I’m feeling, I’m just so grateful, I’m glad that finished on an event that isn’t my main one cause I just didn’t feel the pressure I just wanted to go out there and enjoy what racing feels like and enjoy the routine of it. t’s a really emotional day. The support and love I have been getting from here, in Paris, at home in Ireland and across the globe has really just been amazing. To have the support of my family and friends, even my dancing with the stars family have all been messaging me, I really really felt the love. Winne the Pooh said it best, when he said, How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

Ellen was introduced to Para Swimming in IWA at a young age and she featured in many IWA teams at international competitions before competing at Paralympic level.  

In Ellen’s home community of Clontarf you can get involved in Para Sport at the IWA-Sports Centre where the Dublin Swifts multi sport club runs every Sunday morning and Killester Wheelchair Basketball Club welcome junior and senior players every Tuesday night.  To get involved in Para Swimming contact Swim Ireland for your local club.  If neither of these clubs are in your area, check out our club finder below.

The evening finished out with two bronze medals for Team Ireland coming from superb performances from Roisín Ní Riain in the SM 13 200m Individual Medley Final and Orla Comerford in the Women’s 100m T13 Final.

Today, we’ll see IWA’s Shauna Bocquet take to the track for her final race of these Games. She will compete in the T54 100m Heat just after 11am Irish Time.