Róisín Ní Riain says her World Championship medal-winning performance in the S13 100m butterfly has given her a sense of “redemption” and will be a focus going forward.
The Limerick native came back from the Para Swimming World Championships in Singapore last month with a haul of medals, earning three silvers and two bronzes on the global stage.
Speaking to Ellen Keane on RTÉ 2fm’s Game On, two-time Paralympic Games competitor Ní Riain said one medal in particular was of particular significance to her, and that was the bronze in the butterfly which unlike the backstroke had not traditionally been her specialist event.
“Since I was a kid, my event has always been 100 backstroke. For me this year, my backstroke hadn’t been going very well,” she said.
“So to be able to come out and get a PB in that event, I was shocked to say the least. But I would probably have to go back to day one. Fly for me was a little thing that I took up, put a bit more time into it.
“For me, it’s always been just (for) day one of a competition, do the event to blow the cobwebs out of the way.
“But I think this year we really put a focus on that event. So going into that event, I knew I could swim well.
“I had a lot of confidence going into it and I was fourth in Paris so I suppose I wanted a bit of redemption and that was the event I most wanted (to be) on that podium.
“And to be able to have taken a good chunk of time off that event in the last year or so, I’ve been really, really happy with how the event’s gone and I think for me it’ll definitely be a big focus point going forward.
“So that was probably my standout swim even though it wasn’t necessarily my best medal colour. But it was probably the event that meant the most to me to get on the podium.”
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