Local swimmers make Irish Paralympic team

TWO Northsiders have been named on the Irish team of six that will compete in the Paralympic Swimming (IPC) World Championships in Glasgow from July 13-19.

Ellen Keane and Ailbhe Kelly, from Clontarf and Castleknock respectively, will travel to Scotland along with James Scully, Jonathan McGrath, Darragh McDonald and Nicole Turner.

These championships are a key milestone on the road to Rio 2016 Paralympic Games qualification.

Swimmers who win gold and silver in their events earn automatic qualification slots for their country. For the others the highest possible finish is vital as the remaining slots are allocated based on world rankings in 2016.

Ellen Keane, who claimed two bronze medals at the 2013 World Championships, is currently ranked third going into her best event, the 100m Breaststroke, and fourth in her second ranked event, the 200m Individual Medley. She competed in the Parlympics in Beijing in 2008, aged just 13, and was also on the Irish team four years later in the London Olympics.

Ailbhe Kelly (16) is competing in her second major international having debuted at last year’s European Championships. Her best event is the 100m Backstroke and she will be hoping to edge into that final.

Speaking ahead of the championships, Ireland team manager Hayley Burke said:

“We’ve just returned from a really positive and productive 10-day warm weather camp in Fuerteventura.

“All the team worked exceptionally hard fine tuning final preparations there and are in good shape now heading into the Championships.

“The world’s best swimmers will all be in Glasgow and there’s no better chance for our athletes to benchmark themselves against them.

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Ms Burke added:

“Should they swim to their potential we are hopeful of making the podium and seeing some lifetime best swims.

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All the heats and finals will be shown live on www.glasgow2015.com