Turner, McClements and Ní Riain Set for Finals

Barry McClements and Nicole Turner both progressed comfortably to their respective finals after competing in their heats this morning at the World Para Swimming Championships Madeira 2022. Both athletes maintained their record of having qualified for every final so far this week and they will be joined in the finals session by Róisín Ní Riain who had automatically qualified for her 400m Freestyle Final.

Barry McClements was the first Irish athlete in the water this morning where he proved how competitive he is by finishing fourth in his heat to qualify in fourth place overall for this evening’s finals. McClements never looked under pressure as he cruised comfortably into the final and will now target a new lifetime best time in the final

McClements said “Well first of all I want to PB, so whatever comes with that is a bonus I guess, so hopefully I can at least maintain fourth place and I will be happy with that.”

Nicole Turner followed McClements into the final in the very next race as she qualified in fifth place overall, third in her heat behind the American duo of Herzog and Lettenberger. Turner was largely untroubled as she raced to her third placed finish in the Heats but all of the finalists will be wary of the form of Great Britain’s Maisy Summers Newton who set a new European Record in the second Heat of the event.

Turner said “If I’m a bit faster I’ll be very happy but tonight is just about enjoying myself and then getting the last bit of fresh air out of the water before I enter it in the morning.”