Archery

Kerrie Leonard

• Age: 33
• Hometown: Culmullen, Co Meath
• Club: Blackheath Archers
• Disability: Spinal Cord Injury
• Sport Class: Women’s Compound Open

Paris will be Leonard’s second Games having made her debut in Tokyo, where she finished ninth overall. Kerrie won silver at the 2016 European Championships, a year after placing ninth at the World Championships. She is trained by two-time Olympian Jim Conroy.

Swimming

Róisín Ní Riain

• Age: 19
• Hometown: Drombanna, Co Limerick
• Club: Limerick Swim Club
• Disability: Bilateral Coloboma
• Sport Class: S13, SB13, SM13

It’s Ní Riain’s second Paralympic Games after taking to the pool for six events in Tokyo, qualifying for five finals. The University of Limerick student is the current World Para Swimming Champion in the 100m backstroke and holds the world record for the 200m backstroke, which she set last year. Ní Riain also heads to Paris after a strong showing at this year’s European Championship, where she won two gold, three silver and one bronze. She will be competing in four events in Paris – S13 100m butterfly and backstroke, SB13 100m breaststroke and SM13 200m IM.

Ellen Keane

• Age: 29
• Hometown: Clontarf, Dublin
• Club: NAC Swim Club
• Disability: Left arm dysmelia
• Sport Class: S9, SB8, SM9

Paris will be Keane’s final Paralympic hoorah after deciding her fifth Games will be her last. Keane claimed her first Paralympic medal in Rio in 2016, winning bronze in the SB8 100m breaststroke, following up with gold in the same event in Tokyo. She competes in two events – SB8 100m breaststroke and S9 100m backstroke.

Nicole Turner

• Age: 21
• Hometown: Portarlington, Co Laois
• Club: NAC Swim Club
• Disability: Hypochondroplasia
• Sport Class: S6, SB6, SM6

Despite barely being into her 20s, Paris will be Nicole’s third Paralympics having made her debut in Rio aged 13, qualifying for the final in each of her five events. Turner put herself on the podium the next time around in Tokyo, claiming silver in the S6 50m butterfly. She’s also coming into Paris in fine form having won a gold, a silver and two bronze medals at the European Championships in Madeira earlier this year. She competes in two events – S6 50m freestyle and butterfly.

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Deaten Registe

• Age: 20
• Hometown: Dungannon, Co Tyrone
• Club: Lisburn City Swimming Club
• Disability: Intellectual impairment
• Sport Class: S14, SB14, SM14

It is a first Paralympic Games for Deaten, who only recently made his international debut at the European Championships in April, placing fourth in the 100m breaststroke final. He competes in one event – SB14 100m breaststroke.

Dearbhaile Brady

• Age: 17
• Hometown: Feeny, Co Derry
• Club: Limavady Swim Club
• Disability: Hypochondroplasia
• Sport Class: S6, SB6, SM6

Another Paralympic debutant, Dearbhaile made her first major appearance for Ireland just last year at the Para Swimming World Championships in Manchester, placing fifth in the S6 50m butterfly. In the same event at this year’s European Championships she won bronze, sharing the podium with her Ireland team-mate Nicole Turner who won gold.

Barry McClements

• Age: 22
• Hometown: Newtownards, Co Down
• Club: Ards Swimming Club
• Disability: Right above knee amputation
• Sport Class: S9, SB8, SM9

McClements has shown he is made of stern stuff to recover from a fractured femur suffered last September in time to get to his second Paralympic Games. Has already proven his talent on the international stage, winning bronze in the S9 100m backstroke at the Commonwealth Games in 2022 and bronze in the same event at this year’s European Championships.

Table Tennis

Colin Judge

• Age: 29
• Hometown: Blackrock, Dublin
• Club: UCD Table Tennis Club
• Disability: Three limbs dysmelia
• Sport Class: TT3

Judge, who is appearing at his second Games, is a bronze medallist from last year’s European Championships and French Open, and continued his podium finishes with silver at the Czech Open earlier this year. An actuary by trade, Judge counts eight-time Paralympian Michael Cunningham among his training partners.

Athletics

Mary Fitzgerald

• Age: 24
• Hometown: Kilkenny
• Club: Gowran AC
• Disability: Achondroplasia
• Sport Class: F40 Shot Put

A second-time Paralympian, Mary Fitzgerald placed sixth in the women’s F40 shot put in Tokyo. Fitzgerald entered the Irish fold after joining the high-performance squad in 2019, and went on to finish seventh overall at that year’s World Championships in Dubai. She also seems to have hit her stride at just the right time approaching the Paris Games, throwing a personal best of 8.87m in Loughborough back in May.

Aaron Shorten

• Age: 21
• Hometown: Castledermot, Co Kildare.
• Club: St Laurence O’Toole’s Athletic Club
• Disability: Intellectual Impairment
• Sport Class: T20 1,500m

Shorten will be competing at his first Games in Paris, a fitting place for his Paralympic debut since it is where he made his first major championship appearance at the Para Athletics World Championships last year. The Games will be a chance to really announce himself on the international stage, having already proven his mettle at home by winning 10 All-Ireland titles in the juvenile ranks.

Greta Streimikyte

• Age: 28
• Hometown: Dublin
• Club: UCD Athletics Club
• Disability: Vision Impairment
• Sport Class: T13 1500m

Greta has been on the international scene since 2016 when she competed at the European Para Athletics Championships in Italy before qualifying for the Rio Paralympics. At those Games, she qualified for the final of the 1,500m, placing just outside the medals in fourth. Streimikyte made it on to the podium at the 2018 European Championships, winning silver, and qualified second fastest out of her heat at the Tokyo Games, ultimately placing fifth in the final.

Orla Comerford

• Age: 26
• Hometown: Dublin
• Club: Raheny Shamrock
• Disability: Vision Impairment (Stargardt’s disease)
• Sport Class: T13 100m

Paris will be Orla Comerford’s third Paralympic Games having debuted in Rio when she was 18. She was Team Ireland’s first female athletics athlete to qualify for Paris, with her fourth-place finish in the T13 100m final at last year’s World Para-Athletics Championships earning her a spot on the plane. Comerford has also had an impressive season to date, posting her first official sub-12 second 100m race at the National Senior Track and Field Championships in June.

Shauna Bocquet

• Age: 20
• Hometown: Craughwell, Co Galway
• Club: Craughwell AC
• Disability: Spina Bifida
• Sport Class: T54 100m, 1500m, 5000m

Shauna Bocquet is a first-time Paralympian at Paris and is set to compete at three events – the T54 100m, 1,500m and 5,000m – at the Games. Over the last year, Bocquet has set numerous personal bests in preparation for Paris, including three PBs in her Paralympic distances over a single weekend at the WPA Grand Prix in Switzerland in June. She also followed that up with an 800m best at the Wanda Diamond League in London in July to finish fourth overall.

Cycling

Richael Timothy

• Age: 29
• Hometown: Ballymoe, Co Galway
• Club: Black Line
• Disability: Hemiplegia (Acquired brain injury caused by treatment for Hereditary Haemorrhagic Telangiectasia)
• Sport Class: C3

A former Roscommon footballer and Ireland international in soccer at underage, Richael Timothy made her international debut for Ireland on the bike in 2017 before joining the para cycling squad in 2018. Since her first international medal – silver in the scratch race at the Manchester Para-Cycling International in 2019 – Timothy went on to take bronze at the World Track Championships in 2020 in the non-Paralympics scratch race. At the Tokyo Games, Richael competed in four events – the road race, time trial, individual pursuit and 500m time trial, which she will do all over again this time out in Paris.

Katie George Dunlevy

• Age: 42
• Hometown: Crawley, West Sussex, United Kingdom
• Club: Donegal Bay Cycling
• Disability: Vision Impairment
• Sport Class: B2

Katie George Dunlevy is a multi-Paralympic and World Championship gold medallist in tandem events. Along with pilot Eve McCrystal, she won two gold medals and one silver at the Tokyo Games, adding to her haul of one gold and one silver from Rio. Accomplished on both the road and track, she’s set to compete in four events in Paris.

Josephine Healion

• Age: 28
• Hometown: Tullamore, Co Offaly
• Club: Tullamore Cycling and Touring Club
• Disability: Vision impaired
• Classification: B2

Both a track and road cyclist, Healion has formed successful partnerships with pilots Eve McCrystal for road events and Linda Kelly on the track. Healion and Kelly earned bronze in the road race at the UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships in 2022. Paris is Josephine’s first Paralympics and she will compete in the B 1,000m time trial and the B 3,000m individual pursuit.

Ronan Grimes

• Age: 35
• Hometown: Athenry, Co Galway
• Club: Orwell Wheelers
• Disability: Left club foot
• Sport Class: MC4

Grimes is one of the most decorated members of the Irish para-cycling team, with numerous international road and track medals to his name. He won gold in the C4 road race at the 2022 World Championships, and also took first in the time trial at the European Championships the same year. Grimes goes into the Games having won a silver and two bronze medals at last year’s track and road World Championships.

Martin Gordon

• Age: 39
• Hometown: Sligo
• Club: Black Line
• Disability: Vision Impaired
• Sport Class: B1

Gordon made his debut for Ireland at the Para-cycling World Champions in 2017 and went on to represent Team Ireland at the Tokyo Paralympics. Now paired with pilot Eoin Mullen, they placed fifth at last year’s World Championships in the tandem sprint.

Damien Vereker

• Age: 44
• Hometown: Kilmacow, Co Kilkenny
• Club: Comeragh Cycling Club
• Disability: Vision Impairment
• Sport Class: B1

Having competed at the Rio Games, Vereker is back for his second Paralympics. He will compete in four events in Paris – the B4 4,000m individual pursuit, B 1,000m time trial, B individual time trial and B road race.

Pilots

Eve McCrystal (Katie George Dunlevy & Josephine Healion)

• Age: 46
• Hometown: Dundalk, Co Louth
• Club: Bellurgan Wheelers
• Linda Kelly (Josephine Healion)

• Age: 30
• Hometown: New Ross, Co Wexford
• Club: Spin the Bean – Powered by Coffee
• Mitchell McLaughlin (Damien Vereker)

• Age: 26
• Hometown: Drumkeen, Co Donegal
• Club: Velo Revolution

• Eoin Mullen (Martin Gordon)
• Age: 30
• Hometown: Inis Mór, Co Galway
• Club: Black Line

Equestrian

Michael Murphy

• Age: 27
• Hometown: St. Barnet, Mill Hill, West London
• Coach: Elder Klarzko
• Disability: Peripheral neuropathy
• Sport Class: Grade 1
• Horse: Clever Boy

Paris will be a second Paralympics for Michael Murphy, again riding Clever Boy, after the pair competed in the individual and team dressage events, joined in the latter by Kate Kerr-Horan and Tamsin Addiso. Murphy and Clever Boy also won two bronze medals at the 2022 World Championships in Herning and silver at last year’s European Championships in Riesenbeck.

Kate Kerr-Horan

• Age: 31
• Hometown: Tinahely, Co Wicklow
• Club: Broomfield Equestian Centre, Tinahely
• Coach: Donie McNamara
• Disability: Left-side weakness following farm accident as a child
• Sport Class: Grade III
• Horse: Serafina

A member of the Irish high-performance team since 2011, Paris will be Kerr-Horan’s second Games. At the 2022 World Championships in Herning, Kerr-Horan and her horse Serafina placed 13th in the individual and seventh in the team dressage events.

Jessica McKenna

Age: 23

• Hometown: Cork
• Coach: Elder Klatzko
• Disability: Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy
• Sport Class: Grade III
• Horse: Davidoff 188

McKenney will be making her first appearance at the Paralympic Games following her international debut in Addington, England last year. Last September, she and her horse Davidoff 188 travelled to the European Championships in Riesenbeck, placing sixth overall in the Grade III individual dressage event.

Sarah Slattery

• Age: 34
• Hometown: Tynagh, Co Galway
• 
  
• Coach: Niels Bax
• Disability: Impaired muscle power and range of movement in left arm & hand
• Sport Class: Grade V
• Horse: Savona

The daughter of showjumper Tom Slattery, Sarah will be making her Paralympic debut in Paris. Slattery is the 2021 Irish Winter National Para Dressage champion, and last year, with her new horse Savona, came third in the freestyle and grand prix events in the CPEDI3* in Belgium. She’s also had a successful 2024 to date, taking a personal best in the grand prix B test in Belgium, and was a member of the Irish team that placed second at an event in Hartpury in July.

Powerlifting

Britney Arendse

• Age: 24
• Hometown: Mullagh, Co Cavan
• Disability: Spinal Cord Injury
• Classification: Up to 79kg
• Sport Class: PO

Arendse made her Paralympic debut in Tokyo, finishing seventh in the 73kg category. She goes to Paris having set a new personal best of 128kg earlier this year, and will compete in the up to 79kg category at the 2024 Games.

Rowing

Katie O’Brien

• Age: 27
• Hometown: Clarinbridge, Co Galway
• Club: Galway Rowing Club
• Disability: Spina bifida
• Sport Class: PR2

Inspired by the rowers at the London Paralympics, O’Brien took up the sport in 2012 and has enjoyed significant international success since then. Her first medal at the World Championships came in 2019, when she earned bronze in the PR2 W1x category, but trumped that result in 2022 by winning gold and setting a new world record in the same event. O’Brien will compete in Paris in the PR2 mixed double sculls event having qualified for the Games with a fifth-place finish at last year’s World Rowing Championships.

Tiarnán O’Donnell

• Age: 26
• Hometown: Limerick
• Club: Lee Rowing Club
• Disability: Right leg amputee
• Sport Class: PR2

After making the transition from wheelchair basketball to rowing, O’Donnell will partner O’Brien in the PR2 mixed double sculls event. Despite his relative short time in the sport, he’s already secured his first international medal, taking two silver medals at events in Switzerland and Poland earlier this year.

Triathlon

Cassie Cava

• Age: 32
• Hometown: Shoreham-by-Sea, West-Sussex, England
• Club: Steyning Athletics Club
• Disability: Right below knee amputee, left club foot
• Sport Class: Grade PTS3

Cava competed for Team GB up to 2017, and Paris will be her first Paralympic outing for Ireland. Soon after switching to Team Ireland, Cava won the PTS4 category at the World Paratriathlon Series event in Edmonton before going on to win bronze a the World Triathlon Grand Finals in both 2018 and 2019.

Judith MacCombe

• Age: 29
• Hometown: Claudy, Co Derry
• Club: North West Triathlon Club
• Disability: Vision impairment (congenital albinism)
• Sport Class: PTVI 3

Judith and her twin sister Chloe will both be making their Paralympic debuts in Paris, competing against each other in the PTBI 3 event. Judith and her guide Eimear Nicolls have surged up the rankings having taken up the sport just five years ago, qualifying for the Games by having ranked ninth in the world.

Chloe MacCombe

• Age: 29
• Hometown: Claudy, Co Derry
• Club: North West Triathlon Club
• Disability: Vision impairment (congenital albinism)
• Sport Class: PTVI 3

Twin sister to Judith, she will compete alongside her guide Catherine Sands at her first Paralympics. Chloe qualified by virtue of being third in the world rankings, and is a silver medallist from the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Guides

Eimear Nicholls (Judith)

• Age: 42
• Hometown: Portstewart, Co Derry
• Club: Triangle Triathlon Club
• Catherine Sands (Chloe)

• Age: 32
• Hometown: Rostrevor, Co Down
• Club: Newry Triathlon Club / Newry Wheelers Cycling Club

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