Drombanna native Róisin Ní Riain eyes Paris swimming glory

DROMBANNA native Róisín Ní Riain is one of the huge medal hopefuls in swimming for Team Ireland at the Paralympic Games in Paris at the end of August.

This will be the Limerick swimmer's second Paralympics after making her debut in Tokyo when she was only 16 years-old. Ní Riain competed in six events and qualified for five finals at the Tokyo games.

Four years on, the talented Limerick swimmer will compete in four different events in Paris, beginning with the SM13 100m Butterfly on Thursday, August 29.

She will also compete in the S13 100m Backstroke on August 30, SM 13 200m Individual Medley on September 3 and SB13 100m Breaststroke on September 5.

Róisín, now 19-years-old, has just finished her first year of Sports Science at the University of Limerick and competes in the S13, SB13 and SM13 categories for visually impaired athletes.

Ní Riain announced her arrival on the world stage with a string of impressive swims at the World Para Swimming Series Italy in late 2020. She made her major championship debut at the European Championships in Madeira in May 2021 where she won a bronze medal in the S13 backstroke and also made five other finals.

The Limerick Swim Club member is the current World Para Swimming Champion in the 100m Backstroke and also holds the World Record in the 200m backstroke, which she set in 2023.

Ní Riain was crucial in securing Ireland a female swimming spot at the Paralympics after winning a gold and a silver in the S13 category for visually impaired athletes at the World Para Swimming Championships in Manchester last July after breaking her first long-course world record at the World Series in Berlin in May 2023.

The Sports Science student has had an incredibly busy 2024 to date after spending three weeks in Australia back in March competing in the Para Swimming World Series in Melbourne.

Ní Riain returned home with five gold medals, leading Ireland to achieve second place on the overall medals table. This haul of medals led her to sign with Team Visa, the worldwide payment technology partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Speaking after joining Team Visa, Ní Riain said of her time in Australia earlier this year: “I competed in six different events over there, so it was a packed schedule but a great way to start off the year. We got to compete at an international level and outdoors as well which is a difficult with my visual impairment but it is just trying to adapt and being a bit more focused.”

She also enjoyed an incredibly successful Para Swimming European Championships coming home to Ireland with five medals: two gold, two silver and two bronze. This was another fantastic achievement in the lead up the Paralympic Games.

Ní Riain may differ from many other athletes during big competitions as she revealed ‘the bigger the race the less nervous’ she is admitting that her favourite stroke is backstroke, a competition she has excelled at from a very young age.

“I love racing, I take each one as a learning opportunity and try to not think too far ahead. I love to stand up behind the block before a race with a smile on my face knowing the work I have put in will pay off.”