Sport

Ellen Keane wins silver for Ireland in the SBB 100m Breaststroke world final

Nicole Turner ends championships on a high for Team Ireland as she captures bronze

Ellen Keane of Team Ireland in action. Photograph: Octavio Passos/Getty
Ellen Keane of Team Ireland in action. Photograph: Octavio Passos/Getty
Derek Kinnevey
Sat Jun 18 2022 - 21:52

Ellen Keane showed all of her experience to stage a dramatic comeback over the final 50 metres of her SB8 100m Breaststroke Final to clinch a silver medal in an incredibly competitive world Championships Final in Madeira.

Keane, who qualified in first place for the final raced out of lane four and she took over a second off that morning time to win her silver medal. Her battle with Spain’s Dmytriv Dmytriv was a contest right until the final stroke as Keane finished just 0.8 of a second behind the Spaniard and less than 0.7 of a second ahead of Katarina Roxon from Canada.

Speaking after the race Keane said “Coming here I just wanted to do my best, the fastest I’ve swam all year was a 1:26, I wasn’t even expecting to go a 1:22 and I’m delighted with that.”

Meanwhile Nicole Turner ended the Madeira 2022 World Para Swimming Championships on a high for Team Ireland as she captured a bronze medal for her country in the S6 50m Butterfly Final.

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Turner went into the race as the fifth-ranked athlete over the distance this year but she defied those odds in a close battle for the podium. Turner, who had already claimed one bronze this week, finished in a time of 37:18, just two tenths of a second behind the winner, Ellie Marks, from the USA and just over one tents of a second behind the runner up, Sara Vargas Blanco from Colombia.

Speaking after the race Nicole said “Looking back on Tuesday and today, I came here thinking I’d be in a fight for one medal, never mind bringing home two medals so I am delighted.”

Róisín Ní Riain lost out by the narrowest of margins in a breath taking Women’s 200m Individual Medley SM13 Final. The Limerick native was within two hundredths of a second of clinching a third bronze medal at the World Para Swimming Championships in Madeira this evening.

Ní Riain and the USA swimmer, Gia Pergolini, were too close to separate from the very beginning of the race but with just 50 metres to go Róisín finally got herself ahead of the American swimmer only to see that lead change hands once more within reach of the end of the race.

American swimmer, Colleen Young, took the gold medal with Italian, Gilli Carlotti separating the two Americans in second place. Ní Riain recorded a time of 2:31.89 which was just outside the bronze medal time of 2:31.75.

Speaking after the race a disappointed Róisín said “You know, I didn’t have that many expectations of medals, so to come away with two medals I am very pleased with that.”