Paralympics Roundup

A number of athletes were competing in their very first games and all performed very well. Included in some great achievements were a Gold Medal for Ellen Keane, Silver for Nicole Turner in para swimming and Bronze for Gary O’Reilly in para cycling. A number of personal bests were also broke with Britney Arendse creating three new personal bests in a row in para powerlifting.

Below we give a breakdown of how all the IWA Sport member athletes got on:

Para Swimming

Ellen Keane and Nicole Turner were at the top of their game at Tokyo 2020 winning both gold and silver medals, respectively.

Ellen clinched GOLD in the 100m Breaststroke Final along with a personal best. Ellen also took part in the 200m Individual Medley Final.

Nicole Turner swam three new personal bests and won SILVER in the 50m Butterfly S6 Final. Nicole also competed in the 100m Breastroke SB6 placing 7th and 50m Freestyle S6 coming 8th.

Patrick Flanagan took part in the Men’s 100m Backstroke S6 placing 5th and the 400m Freestyle S6 coming 7th in his debut Paralympics. A great games for Patrick who no doubt is aiming for better at Paris 2024.

Para Athletics

Three IWA Sport members took part in the Para Athletics category. Jordan Lee, who was competing at his first games, along with Kilkenny native Mary Fitzgerald and Cork athlete Niamh McCarthy.

Mary Fitzgerald competed in the women’s Shot Put F40 coming 6th in her debut Paralympics. A great achievement for Mary who now looks to Paris 2024

Another athlete making his debut at this level was Killarney man Jordan Lee. Jordan took part in the Men’s high jump T47 finishing in 9th position.

Niamh McCarthy competed in the F41 Women’s discuss throw coming in 5th place.

Para Archery

Kerrie Leonard was the only Irish athlete to take part in this sport and has been competing for the last number of years at an international level. The Meath native, who was taking part in her first Paralympics put in an impressive performance. Kerrie reached the Women’s Individual Compound last 8 Elimination stage placing 9th overall.

Para Cycling

Gary O’Reilly from Co. Laois was competing in his first Paralympics and put his own stamp down. He finished 4th in the H5 Road Race but had a 3rd place finish winning BRONZE in the H5 Time Trial.

Para Powerlifting

Britney Arendse flew the Irish flag in Para Powerlifting at this year’s games. Britney was also a flag bearer at the Paralympics opening ceremony, a huge honour.

Britney made her Paralympic debut competing in the women’s 73kg category. The Cavan women placed 7th but broke 3 personal bests in a row eventually lifting 107kg.

Para Table Tennis

Colin Judge took part in his first Paralympics and ranked 9th in the men’s Singles Class 3 in Table Tennis. A great achievement for the Dublin native.

Para Marathon

Patrick Monahan finished in 12th place in the Men’s Marathon T54event. Four places better than in Rio. A great outcome.

Congratulations to all IWA Sports members. You’ve made the country proud.