Sport

Tokyo 2020 Paralympics Day 8: Gary O’Reilly finishes fourth, Niamh McCarthy takes fifth in discus

Philip Eaglesham finishes in 21st place in the SH2 R5 competition on the 10m range

Gary O’Reilly of Ireland competes in the men’s H5 road race at the Fuji International Speedway. Photograph: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Gary O’Reilly of Ireland competes in the men’s H5 road race at the Fuji International Speedway. Photograph: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Wed Sept 01 2021 - 13:59
  • Road cycling: Gary O'Reilly finishes in fourth place in the H5 road race.
  • Swimming: Ellen Keane finishes fifth in the final of the 200m individual medley - SM9. Róisín Ní Riain finishes seventh in the final of the 100m breaststroke - SB13. Barry McClements misses out on the final in the men's 200m individual medley - SM9.
  • Discus: Niamh McCarthy finishes fifth in the F41 final.
  • Shooting: Philip Eaglesham finishes in 21st place in the SH2 R5 competition on the 10m range.

Road cycling

Gary O'Reilly brought a memorable first Paralympic Games to a close with another excellent performance that saw him finish in fourth place in the H5 road race.

It proved to be a spectacular finish to the race as Dutch rider Mitch Valize and Frenchman Loic Verngnaud sprinted against each other for the win with Valize pipping his rival at the finish line.

“I’m chuffed about the Games as a whole,” said O’Reilly, who yesterday won a bronze in the H5 time trial. “I think fourth today was the best result I could have hoped for to be honest. With the medal yesterday, I’m still struggling to believe that happened, so I think all in all it’s job done. I couldn’t be happier.”

Swimmming

S9 100m breaststroke champion, Ellen Keane finished in joint fifth in the women's SM9 200m individual medley final.

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The Dubliner set a new personal best with a time of 2:38.64. Following her gold medal last week she returned to the pool this morning and produced a strong performance to qualify for the final - finishing second in her heat with a time of 2.40.99.

In the final though New Zealand's Sophie Pascoe lead from the front to finish in a time of 2:32.73, just ahead of Hungary's Zsofia Konkoly and Spain's Nuria Marques Soto who took the bronze.

“I really want to say a big thank you to everyone at home who has cheered me on and cheered the whole team on," Keane said after her final. "I just want to give a special mention to my team mate Patrick (Flanagan) who hasn’t started his Games yet so he is in the pool tomorrow and I hope everyone will cheer him on for his 400m tomorrow and 100m backstroke the next day.”

Róisín Ní Riain finished seventh in the final of thera SB13 100m breaststroke. The 16 year-old also set a new PB with a time of 1:20.34.

This morning's final was the Limerick teenager's concluding event at her debut Paralympic Games in Tokyo. She earlier finished second in her heat with a time of 1:20.81, after which she said: “The whole experience has been great, I’ve loved every minute of it and I’m just trying to take it all in.”

Ní Riain reached the final in five of her six events at these Games.

First out in the pool this morning for Team Ireland was Barry McClements who finished just outside of the final times in the men's 200m individual medley - SM9. McClements raced a time of 2:29.68 which left him in joint fourth position in his heat.

“I added on four seconds to my PB so it’s a bit disappointing but it’s not my main event so I’ll come back tomorrow and go for that PB. It’s a long competition for swimmers, there’s usually only seven days and this one’s 10 days so I have to learn from this and take it to Paris.”

Shooting

Philip Eaglesham returned to the shooting range this morning to compete in the SH2 R5 competition on the 10m range.

Ireland’s Phil Eaglesham in action at the Asaka Shooting Range in Tokyo. Photograph: Tommy Dickson/Inpho
Ireland’s Phil Eaglesham in action at the Asaka Shooting Range in Tokyo. Photograph: Tommy Dickson/Inpho

Eaglesham competed well with a high score of 106.2 and a low of 104.2 from across his six rounds of shooting. He finished with a total score of 632.0 to finish in 21st place. His attention will now turn to his favoured event, the R4 mixed which moves back to a 50m range, on Saturday.

Discus

Despite saving her best throw until last, Cork discus thrower Niamh McCarthy finished fifth in the F41 final. The Rio silver medallist and three-time world medallist produced her best throw of 28.94 metres in the sixth round. Her first round 28.59m had her lying third after the second round.

The standard of competition was so high the world record changed hands three times - defending champion Roaua Tlili took gold with her final throw of 37.91m to overtake Morocco's Youssra Karim (37:35m) whose teammate Hayat El Garaa took bronze with 29:30.

McCarthy said: “I’m happy with my performance. I know other people were expecting better things but it’s been a very hard few years so just to make it here and to have a few good throws I’m happy with that.

Niamh McCarthy during the F41 discus final at the Olympic Stadium. Photograph: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
Niamh McCarthy during the F41 discus final at the Olympic Stadium. Photograph: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

“My PB is over 30m and I’m a ways off my season best. If you just look at the result you’d be thinking if I did slightly nearer to it I could have got a medal but I don’t think I could have done more today, I did as best as I could.

“Had the Games gone ahead last year I wouldn’t have been in them. I’ve been trying for years to get back to where I used to be so it’s been a difficult time. I’ve changed as a person. That’s not to say that those strengths aren’t in there but they’re not with me right now in the quantity that I’d like so I’m happy to just have made it to this competition. It was touch-and-go so I’m really proud of myself.”