Irish teenager Barry McClement’s lifetime best swim in the C final of the 100m Backstroke was the highlight for the Irish on the final day of competition at the Para Swimming World Series in Berlin.
The fifteen year old, who swims out of the Ards club in Co. Down initially set a new best time of 1:10.02 in this morning’s heat but impressively he knocked close to a second off that this evening. The result was good enough to see him awarded bronze as the third fastest junior in the event and shows his enormous potential at this level.
Rio Paralympic bronze medallist Ellen Keane was the other Irish swimmer to see finals action this evening. The twenty two year old was outside her best racing in the A final of the 200m Individual Medley finishing ninth overall in a time of 2:42.20.
Earlier today UCD student Patrick Flanagan raced the heats of 100m Backstroke and performed strongly hitting a good mark of 1:27.78. Sean O’Riordan, who made his international debut at this meet recorded a time of 2:40.63 in the heats of the 200m Individual Medley.
Ailbhe Kelly, who was racing internationally for the first time this season after completing her Leaving Cert finished with a strong swim in the heats of the 100m backstroke with a 1:28.57.
Unfortunately, Nicole Turner did not contest the heats of either the 50m Butterfly, or the 200m Individual Medley as a result of the injury she sustained in the 100m Breaststroke final on the opening night.
Reflecting on the series for the Irish team, manager Hayley Burke said: “Overall this final world series has been a good one for us. We’ve seen the quality of our younger swimmers coming through. It’s been a great opportunity to race against the best at this point in the season as usually that doesn’t happen until the major Championships. Year one of this Paralympic journey towards Tokyo has been a great platform from which to build as we move forward.”
