Para Swimming and Para Athletics enjoy best performance in a decade. Medals and lifetime best results were the themes of the month as Singapore and New Delhi were the scene of the best performances in nearly a decade for Irish Para Swimmers and Para Athletics team members.
Taking up where the Para Cycling team had left off in Belgium in August it was the turn of the Para Swimming Team in Singapore. Double Paralympic medalist Róisín Ní Riain was flawless as she achieved an incredible result of 5 medals from 5 events including three silvers and two bronze. Róisín was joined on the podium twice by Dearbaile Brady, the young star secured her first medals in the World championships with outstanding silver and bronze medal performances. The swim team also had great results from Barry McClements who recorded a new Lifetime best performance and Síomha Brady who made her major championship debut. Rising star Deaten Registe also continued his development with strong displays throughout the week.
New Delhi was the venue for the World Para Athletics championships where the medal winning theme was continued. Greta Streimikyte became World Champion with a dominant performance that saw her lead from the gun to win the 1500m in fine style. Paralympic medalist, Orla Comerford maintained her incredible form by winning gold in the 100m and she followed that with her second gold, this time in the 200m as she became a double world champion. Lana Sutton was the third member of Team Ireland and she made a great impact in her first major championships with personal best performances in both the 100 and 200m that saw her reach the final in both and show some real promise for future events.
Speaking about the incredible performances at the World Para Swimming and Athletics championships, Paralympics Ireland CEO, Stephen McNamara said;
“Success goes beyond medals; success is a happy and healthy athlete who can focus on performance and personal goals in a team culture of support and togetherness. I want to congratulate our athletes and our swim and athletics support teams, headed by Hayley and James, in delivering our best performances at World Championships since 2013 in swimming and 2017 in athletics. This is a significant achievement and one that we can build on as we look to LA 28.
I want to take the time to thank government for their investment and Sport Ireland and the Sport Ireland Institute for all their supports; together we make possibilities limitless.”
