ORLA BARRY TAKES BRONZE IN DISCUS
HELEN KEARNEY TAKES BRONZE IN EQUESTRIAN
EVENING HIGHLIGHTS:
Athletics
Cork native Orla Barry took Bronze in tonight’s F57/58 Discus Throw final at the Olympic Stadium.
Barry’s first throw of 28.12 was enough to rank her in third position going into the medal throw off. Barry entered the throwing cage knowing the bronze medal was secured but could not register a throw further than her very first throw. Algeria’s Nassima Saifi took gold with a F58 Paralympic record of 40.34 and Bulgaria’s Stela Eneva took silver with a throw of 36.56. ORLA BARRY QUOTES:
“I thought with my first throw I might not make it into the final but it ended up winning me a bronze medal. I don’t know how that happened really but I came here to get on the podium and I am going back with a bronze medal. I am absolutely delighted.”
“It doesn’t matter that it was not my best performance, a medal is a medal.”
“It makes up for Beijing, I am still learning, I am only 22 and Rio is ahead of me. I’ve gone from fifth to third and if that trend continues, we’re looking at great stuff. “
“I tried to go in and put pressure on them. I know when I went into my second round I was in third position. I should have relaxed more but I don’t think I did. But a medal is a medal
Ray O’Dwyer finished fifteenth in the final of the F34 Shot Put. The Kilkenny native making his Paralympic Games debut threw 8.86. The gold medal was won by Morrocan Azeddine Nouiri who set a new world record of 13.10. Mohsen Kaedi of Iran took silver with a throw of 12.94 and France’s Thierry Cibone took bronze with 12.66.
Equestrian
Helen Kearney has added a Bronze medal to the Silver she won on Sunday by placing third in the Individual Freestyle Test 1a at Greenwich Park this afternoon.
Kearney aboard MISTER COOL scored 78.450 and was sitting in the Silver medal position with just two riders left to compete. Laurentia Tan from Singapore was the second last competitor to ride and she posted a score of 79.000 to push Kearney into the Bronze position. The final rider could not impact on the medal positions.
The Gold medal was won by Sophie Christiansen of Great Britain who took her third gold of the London Paralympic Games with a score of 84.750,
Kearney’s fellow team member Geraldine Savage also occupied a medal position at one point but was pushed out to fifth. Savage aboard BLUES TIP TOP TOO posted a score of 72.300.
Kearney commented:
“My first games and three medals, I cannot even put into words how it feels.”
“The team Bronze is fantastic. The team worked so hard that it was a great achievement for us all and is testament to all our hard work that we secured the Bronze.”
Regarding her performance today (Tuesday) Kearney said,
“Mr Cool was much more relaxed today. The crowd was louder today and I was conscious of this but it worked out well. We both were relaxed and it showed in the result.”
Swimming
Darragh McDonald set a new PB 33.15 in the heats this morning to go into this afternoon’s final as the eight fastest. In the final, China’s Qing Xu set a new world and Paralympic record time of 28.57 to take gold with Lorenzo Escalona Perez taking silver in 30.04 and China’s Tao Zheng taking bronze in 30.06. McDonald finished eighth in a time of 33.26.
COLLATED RESULTS:
Athletics
Women’s Discus Throw F57/58 Final
Medallists: 1. N Saifi (ALG) 40.34, 2. S Eneva (BUL) 36.56. 3. Orla Barry (IRL) 28.12
Men’s Shot Put F34 Final
Medallists: 1. A Nouiri (MAR) 13.10, 2. M Kaedi (IRI) 12.94, 3. T Cibone (FRA) 12.86, 15. Ray O’Dwyer (IRL) 8.86
Men’s Shot Put F57/58 Final
Medallists: 1. A Ashapatov (RUS) 16.20. 2. J Rokicki (POL) 15.68, 3. M Louwrens (RSA) 13.64, 13.
J McCarthy (IRL) 10.70
Equestrian
Individual Freestyle Test 1a
Medallists: 1. S Christiansen (GBR) 84.750, 2. L Tan (SIN) 79.000, 3. Helen Kearney (IRL) 78.450, 5. Geraldine Savage (IRL) 72.300
Individual Freestyle Test IV
Medallists: 1. M George (BEL) 82.100, 2. S Wells (GBR) 81.150, 3. F Hosmar (NED)78.600, 6. James Dwyer (IRL) 74.400
Swimming
Men’s Freestyle S6 Final
Result: 1. Q XU (CHN) 28.57. 2. L Perez Escalona (CUB) 30.04, 3. T Zheng (CHN) 30.06 8. D McDonald (IRL) 33.26
Men’s Freestyle S6 Heat 1
Qualifiers: 1. S Iwanow (GER) 31.29, 2. Y Tang (CHN) 31.99, 3. Darragh McDonald (IRL) 33.15
Shooting
Men’s 50m Rifle Prone
Qualifiers: 1. A.S Alaryani (UAE) 592. 2. J Jakobsson (SWE) 591, J.A Saavedra Reinaldo (ESP) 590, 18. Sean Baldwin (IRL) 585
