Róisín Ní Riain: "Every time I'm getting up I'm achieving something better for myself"

LIMERICK swimmer Róisín Ní Ríain came home from Singapore with five World Championship medals last month and with the hunger to race again.

So, just five days after her return to training, she found out that she would be competing against her younger sister Sorcha in a local 50m sprint.

"Immediately I rang her to tell her we're beside each other, and it was like, 'it's on'," laughed Ní Ríain.

But she wasn't surprised to see that the list was revised before the race and the sisters were kept apart. The Paralympic star won, but by a very small margin.

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"We both did way better than I expected," she said. "I didn't even think I'd go the time she went. It's an example of us pushing one another."

Sorcha and her twin, Meadbh, are 16, while 13-year-old Sadhbh is the youngest. In February, the twins joined Róisín in a Limerick Swim Club team that won a national bronze in the Women's 4x100 Medley relay.

"We're all competitive at home," Ní Ríain smiled. "Little things, big things, we're always competing against one another."

Róisín led the way for the others. The 2023 world champion is 20 now and, all going well, LA '28 will be her third Paralympics.

The Limerick swimmer was Ireland's youngest Paralympian in Tokyo and the second youngest last year in Paris, where she collected a silver and bronze medal.

She is Swim Ireland's Paralympic swimmer of the year for the third year running and, after picking up the award last Saturday night, the first thing Ni Ríain told her interviewer Ellen Keane was that she missed her in the Team Ireland set-up.

As well as being the programme's leading light, Ní Ríain is now embracing a leadership role in the absence of Keane and Nicole Turner, who have both retired. They were joined in Paris by Dearbhaile Brady, who was 16 in her first Paralympics.

"I went from being the absolute youngest in Tokyo to feeling like I'm one of the more experienced people now," Ní Ríain said. "I started young, so maybe that's why I feel like I have that experience. I am only 20 but have two Games in me now.

"Every year you go to a major competition you learn something, you pick up things and you take them with you to the next one.

"I'm sure I'll say this in 10 years time when I'm done swimming, that every single year I got better, that I learned more, got more professional, just changing and adapting to whatever I need.

"It is literally just about learning from one experience to the next and it's trying to be there for the newer ones.

"We're similar enough in age so it's more just sharing experience, it's not talking down. Ellen and Nicole, they were always there to give advice and say, 'no don't do that, do this instead', so just helping them, guiding them.

"I know from experience that it's nice to have someone to help you."

The Drombonna sensation suffers from coloboma, a condition that has left her with next to no vision in her left eye and very limited sight in her right eye.

She went to Singapore in September with the "quiet goal" of medalling in all five of her events. It helped that her first two, the S13 100m Butterfly and 100m Breastroke, were the ones she finished fourth in in Paris.

"It definitely fueled me," she said. "That first one probably meant the most to me."

Ní Ríain switched up her training this year to train for the Butterfly so to finish two seconds quicker than in Paris and win the bronze was very satisfying.

She also added an extra 400m event for the Worlds so the key was to manage her energy levels on day six, with both 400m Freestyle races on that day. She finished second in the final with a PB.

It wasn't until the final day of competition that she felt the demands of the week but Ní Ríain still claimed bronze in the 200m IM final.

That brought her total to three silvers and two bronze, totalling the five medals she had quietly hoped for. No golds in her backpack but that was OK, at least this time.

"That was the ultimate goal but that leaves me with something to go after next year," said Ní Ríain.

She texted her coach John Szaranek straight after the fly bronze to say she was really happy with her swim and her medal but that she can do so much better.

It excites the third year UL pharmaceutical chemistry student that she feels that way and has the motivation to work on it again for the next time.

"I've got quite a realistic head on me," Ní Ríain added. "I don't really put any expectations on myself. I don't overly think about what I'm going to do or what I can do.

"There's no reason for me to be annoyed. 'Next time', that's the attitude I have. It's a long-term thing. Of course, I'd love to win. Everyone would love to win. Hopefully, next time.

“It's something to aim for as well. Your first major medal is always going to be a massive deal, and your first medal at a Worlds, then last year my first medal at a Games, and then this year being able to come out and medal in all my events.

"So every time I'm getting up I'm achieving something better for myself. As long as I can do that, I'll be happy.

"I was definitely a more nervous racer when I was younger but now I just love racing. I genuinely love getting up behind the blocks.

“The race environment, race days, competition days, travelling to competitions, everything about that I absolutely love.

"When I finish I can't wait for the next one, so this part of the year now where I don't get to go away and travel for a couple of months is my least favourite part of the year for sure.

"Really, who wants to be in there training in the cold winter once getting up in the morning?

“But that's something that stands to me, that I don't get nervous, I just get excited. It's an amazing thing to have isn't it, to stand up knowing that I'm going to be able to give my best."