Niamh McCarthy secured the first medal for Team Ireland at the World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai this afternoon. McCarthy had a tense wait to find out if her throw of 29.70 metres would be enough to secure the medal but she was not to be denied and can now look forward to picking up her bronze medal tomorrow.
McCarthy got her event off to a rocky start when her first three throws, the second of which was ruled out of bounds, fell well short of her own high standards. However, when the lower ranked athletes were removed from the event Niamh did find her best form and on her 4th throw she produced the medal winning 29.7metre effort.
However, it was a tense wait to confirm her place on the podium as Niamh had to wait for Morocco’s Hayat El Garaa to throw her final discus to confirm Niamh’s medal win by just 69 centimetres.
A relieved McCarthy said “That was probably one of the hardest competitions I’ve ever done, being part of it, it’s not something I ever want to do again but it went my way in the end so I can only be happy that I’m coming away with a medal, I don’t really care how it happened.”
It took a World Record, a Championship Record and a North American record to deny Noelle Lenihan a place on the podium in a really tough event in the F38 Women’s Discus Final.
Noelle’s best throw came with her 3rd effort which was a 31:68m but that was not enough for the Cork woman to reach the podium on this occasion. Chinese athlete Mi Na threw a brilliant championship record of 37:50m to take the gold. The remarkable 14 year old South African, Simone Kruger, took silver after throwing a T38 World Record in Noelle’s T38 class and Foessel from Canada took the bronze medal with a throw of 33:37m which was a North American Record.
“I went in as I always do, to compete, but it didn’t go as I would have liked, the sport is growing so much, the competition is getting a lot bigger so you really have to keep up with it.’
See the full post competition interview with Noelle Lenihan Here: https://youtu.be/2bFS1WBjZPM
See the full post competition interview with Niamh McCarthy Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8__w9F8X7HQ
Jason Smyth will be back in action tomorrow when he puts his incredible unbeaten record at major World Championships on the line in the Heats of the Men’s 100m T13 event and should he qualify his final will take place at 3:15pm tomorrow afternoon. Michael McKillop and David Leavy had been due to run in the Heats of the T38 1500m on Thursday but that will now be a straight final and will take place on Friday.
World Para Athletics Championships, Dubai Day 6 Result
Noelle Lenihan, F38 Discus Final, 31.68m, 5th place
Niamh McCarthy, F41 Discus Final, 7:46pm 29.70m, 3rd place *Bronze Medal
World Para Athletics Championships, Dubai Day 7 Schedule
Jason Smyth, Men’s 100m T13 Round 1 Heat, 9:45am (5:45am Irish time)
Jordan Lee, Men’s High Jump T47 Final, 6:00pm (2:00pm Irish Time)
World Para Athletics Championships, Dubai Day 8 Schedule
Greta Streimikyte, Women’s 1500m T13 Final, 11:05am (7:05am Irish Time)
