PARALYMPIAN DARRAGH MCDONALD TAKES BRONZE IN THE 400M FREESTYLE AT EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
July 7th, 2011. In: CPSI
Ireland’s Darragh McDonald secured a bronze medal this evening at the IPC European Swimming Championships, Berlin in the 400m Freestyle event (Class S6). The Silver Medallist from the 2008 Beijing Paralympic games finished strongly in a closely fought battle to take third place with a time of 5.15.02, out touching his German rival Iwanov by .05seconds. The race was won by McDonald’s old nemesis Anders Olsson in a time of 4.58.17 with Yevhe Bohadayko from the Ukraine in second place with a time of 5.09.72.
McDonald, who took silver in this event two years ago in Reykjavik stated after the event,
“It was great to once again be in the medals at a major international meet, I am delighted with this performance.”
Also in action at this evenings session, Dublin’s, Ellen Keane finished 6th tonight in the final of the women’s s9 100m freestyle in a new lifetime best time of 1.07.82. The race was won by Spain’s Sarai Gascon in a time of 1.03.53. Speaking after the event, Keane stated
“I was pleased to swim 2 new personal best times today and swim faster in tonight’s final; it has been a great start to the championships for me”
Stephen Campbell, from Tyrone, finished in 6th place in the final of the 100m backstroke (S11Class) in a time of 1.17.85 outside his own personal best. The race was won by the Ukraine’s Viktor Smyrnov in a time of 1.09.24.
Laurence McGivern finished in 7th place in his heat in this morning’s heats of the men’s 100m freestyle (S9 Class) in a time of 1.03.53; this unfortunately was not fast enough to qualify for the final.
Speaking from Berlin, High Performance Director of Paralympic Swimming, Dave Malone said: “It was a great start to the European Championships to have 3 swimmers qualify for tonight’s finals. Darragh produced a superb swim in a thrilling race to capture bronze in the men’s s6 400m freestyle. It was great to see Darragh once again on a podium for Ireland and an extremely positive start to the championships for the Irish swim team.”
Competition continues at the Swimming and Diving Center in Europasportpark.
INFO SOURCE: Paralympics Ireland
For further information contact:
John Fulham, Communications Officer, Paralympics Ireland
T: 087 270 9182
E: communications@pcireland.ie
David O’Síocháin, Pembroke Communications
T: 087 936 2440
E: david@pembrokecomms.ie