Ireland’s James Scully is hoping his experience from London in 2012 will help him in tonight’s final of the men’s S5 200 metre freestyle final at the Paralympic Games in Rio.
Fourth in the event in London, the 23-year-old from Ratoath in Co Meath finished third in heat two in Rio on Thursday to qualify for tonight’s final (11.59pm) as the sixth fastest swimmer. He beat his season’s best time of 2:54.76 in reaching the medal race.
Scully said: “I’m delighted with the placing to be able to get into a final again. I was keeping an eye on the Chinese and Italian swimmers, mainly the Chinese guy in my heat, so when I saw I touched him out, I was pretty confident going into the final without watching the second heat.
“Time-wise it’s a good enough time, it’s the fastest heat swim of my career and it’s about 0.14 off my best so we’re close but there’s still a few things we need to work on. I’m looking to go a good bit faster than that because I don’t think that’s 100 per cent my potential. I’m delighted to be here, represent the country and swim a pretty fast time.
“The atmosphere is going to be top notch and I’m just looking to embrace that and having London behind me I’m able to deal with it better and know how to approach races. When the noise comes on I’ll be in my zone and know how to deal with it.”
Ailbhe Kelly opened Ireland's participation in the Games, finishing seventh in heat two of the women's 400m freestyle and 13th overall.
The heat was won by America's Jessica Long, the world record holder and favourite for the gold medal.
Kelly swam a time of 5:41.36, a little way off the 17-year-old’s personal best set earlier this season of 5:35.49 and missed out on a place in the final.
Unlike every other competitor in heat two Kelly had to start in the water because her leg muscles aren’t strong enough to propel her off the blocks. It’s a significant disadvantage losing three to four metres on her opponents from the get-go.
In her first Paralympics, the Castleknock teenager, who turns 18 during the Games, had the honour of being Ireland’s first representative in action in Rio. Kelly has two more events, the 100 metres backstroke and 100 metres freestyle.
Kelly was happy with this morning’s swim as she prepped for her main event, the 100m backstroke, on Tuesday.
“I was really pretty nervous going in, first race in the Paralympic Games is a big deal, once I got that under control I really enjoyed the race. It’s really good to have my first race under my belt now and know what’s what, I know exactly how everything works and I think I’ll be really prepared for the 100m backstroke.”
In the women's T13 1500 metres Lithuanian-born Irish runner Greta Streimikyte has qualified for Saturday's final after finishing third in her heat and in the process breaking the Irish record with a time 4:51.75.
Streimikyte, who is also making her Paralympic debut, was delighted with her performance.
“To make the final was my goal and now my goal is to medal on Saturday. I was nervous but when I was out there and the crowd was so supportive, you forget about the nerves. Now I want to achieve even more. I will talk with my coaches and see if I can improve any mistakes to improve for the finals.”
The final which will take place on Saturday at 3.13pm Irish Time.
The Kilkenny/Tipperary axis of Damien Vereker and Seán Hahessy finished a hugely creditable eighth in the men's 4000 metres Tandem B individual pursuit qualifier.
The new pairing finished in a personal best time of 4:20.139, their time had them leading for the opening three heats, and putting them within six seconds of competing for bronze. They had hoped to achieve a time of 4:16.
Finally, Seán Baldwin, Ireland's shooting competitor on day one competed in his qualifier of the R1 10m Rifle Standing. Baldwin recorded a total score of 598.9 and finished 19th out of 43 competitors. Only the top eight progressed through to this evening's final. Afterwards, Baldwin also competes in the R3 Mixed 10m Rifle Prone Qualifier on Saturday.
