Paralympic Games final ends in Lifetime Best for Dungannon's Deaten Registe with 'goosebumps' for Claudy's MacCombe twins
Dungannon’s Deaten Registe capped his Paralympic Games debut with a Lifetime Best time towards sixth in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB14 class final.
Registe arrived in Paris with just one major international meet on his CV but posted 1:07.82 in the Paris showdown won by Canada’s Nicholas Bennett, with Jake Michel (Australia) and Naohide Yamaguchi (Japan) completing the podium.
Registe wrapped up his heat appearance for Team Ireland fourth in a field that included world record holder Yamaguchi and Michel, the latter a silver medallist in Tokyo.
The 20-year-old, after the La Défense Arena, said: “It felt better than this morning, I wanted to go quicker than this morning, I came back strong and it’s a personal best.
"It’s really good to get the experience of what the Games is like, it’s my first one, I made my debut tonight and went faster tonight, I’m happy out.
"I aim to try get lower (the time) as times goes on, so hopefully I can be in LA.”
Registe added: “It's been great having my family here and be able to watch me race, it’s great to have my coach and friends here too.”
Claudy’s MacCombe twins, Chloe and Judith, finished the para-triathlon PTV1 class, respectively, in sixth and eighth for Team Ireland.
Chloe – guided by Catherine Sands – said: “You always have your eyes on the podium but ultimately we just wanted to go out and just give it everything.
“Control the controllable, just cross the line knowing you gave everything and that's what we did so.”
Judith – with Eimear Nicholls as her guide – finished eighth.
“I feel below-par,” said Judith. “I've been sick for the past few days...even getting on the start line today was incredible. If the race had been yesterday, I wouldn't have even gotten the chance to start.”
Guide Nicholls added: “I’m just so proud of Judith after what she’s been through over the past two days.
“We’re definitely looking forward to the rest of the season. We've got two more races coming up...and then beyond that, we'll definitely be gunning for LA.”
Chloe discussed the connection between the sisters and family support: “Sibling rivalry is a real motivator – it's great. We knew that we were going to be proud of each other no matter where we finished and whoever finished first.
"It's amazing having the two of us at home and our families can actually come and watch us race because we're travelling all over the world to qualify and you never have anybody in the crowd.
"It was just so special...everyone's chanting your name. We nearly couldn't hear each other...it was just like goosebumps.”
Lisburn’s David Ross featured yesterday as a replacement on the Team GB squad list in the men’s wheelchair rugby bronze showdown loss to Australia.
Today Larne’s Claire Taggart will represent Team GB in the boccia mixed team BC1/BC2 class against the People’s Republic of China (10:50am, UK time) then Portugal (7:20pm, UK time).
Belfast’s Jessica McKenna lines out today (8:00am, UK time) across the equestrian individual event grade III aiming for medal success with Team Ireland.
Team Ireland swimmers Barry McClements and Dearbhaile Brady, from Newtownards and Feeny respectively, will be on show in the water.
McClements’ men’s 100m backstroke S9 class heat starts at 8:37am (UK time), with Brady in the women's 50m butterfly S6 class heat from 9:15am (UK time).
The finals are scheduled for 4:37pm (UK time, McClements) and 5:05pm (UK time, Brady).