Eoghan Clifford was the victim of a mechanical failure 200 metres from the finish of the C1-3 70-kilometre road race in Pontal. His chain dropped thereby denying him a chance to contest the sprint for the line in a group of five riders that had broken away from the peloton.
The 36-year-old's misfortune thwarted his quest for a third medal to complement the gold and bronze he's already claimed as he came home fifth. Ireland's other competitor in the race Colin Lynch – he won a silver earlier in the week – came home in 24th place.
The NUI Galway lecturer had previously won a bronze medal in the velodrome and a gold during the pursuit time trial – he also suffered a chain malfunction in this race but was far enough ahead that it didn’t matter – on the road, defying a persistent knee injury to do so.
He was the favourite for today’s event and was part of, initially, a six-man breakaway group, that was reduced to five.
He said before the race that he’s not a sprinter and despite being second through the 24 and 47 kilometre marks he could not pull away from the leading group, before his chain issue intervened, denying him the chance to contest the sprint.
Germany's Steffan Warias crossed the line first, Belgium's Kris Bosman's took silver with Fabio Anobile from Italy third. Clifford was 10 seconds back in fifth place.
Niamh McCarthy won Ireland’s ninth medal of the Paralympics in Rio, and the third silver medal, in the Women’s F41 Discus final.
The 22-year-old was ranked third in the world going into the Games on the strength of claiming a bronze medal at the World Championships in Doha (2015) and then a silver in the Europeans in Grosseto, Italy in June when she smashed her personal best.
The Carrigaline native claimed her silver medal with her penultimate throw of 26.67 to finish second behind, Tunisian, Raoua Tlili, who broke the world record with a mark of 33.38.
McCarthy admitted: “I have few words right now. It was a hard competition and I pulled through in the end. I got what I came here for. I wouldn’t change anything in the past few months.”
“I felt guilty wanting the others not to do well but they did throw well – I just threw better. Following my room-mate Orla Barry’s success today, I don’t know how we will celebrate but it will be one of the best nights of my life for sure.”
McCarthy (silver) joins Jason Smyth (gold), Michael McKillop (gold), Clifford (gold, bronze), Katie-George Dunlevy/Eve McCrystal (gold), Colin Lynch (silver), Orla Barry (silver) and Ellen Keane (bronze) as Ireland's medal winners.
On Friday morning Ellen Keane qualified for her third final of the Games when she claimed third place in her heat of the Women’s S9 100 metres backstroke in a personal best time of 1:15.44. It was the seventh fastest time going into Friday night’s final when the 21-year-old will be hoping to add to the bronze medal she already possesses.
