Congratulations to club member Niamh McCarthy who today won a Silver medal at the European Paralympic Championships in Italy. Competing in the F40/F41 discus category, Niamh threw a distance of 27.05 metres. Not only was this a new personal best distance for her but  it was also a new European record in the F41 category. Niamh finished behind a Polish athlete who was in the F40 category and finished ahead on points.

Niamh is of course no stranger to international success having won Bronze at the World Championships in Doha last year. The current European Championships are part of her build up for the Paralymic Games in Rio later in the Summer.

From Paralympics Ireland…..An extremely focused performance from Cork athlete McCarthy saw her set a new F41 European Record and Personal Best early on with a distance of 25.45m, before going on to break this record on her third throw with a distance of 27.05m.

In what was a mixed class event (F40 and F41) McCarthy was pipped to the gold medal by F40 Polish athlete Renata Sliwinska who won the event on points.

“That was absolutely stunning,” said an almost speechless National Throws Coach, Dave Sweeney. “A truly stunning performance from Niamh. She smashed her PB to smithereens, and it really was unfortunate that she lost out on gold by points in the mixed class event.

“She is thrilled now to have thrown so well, and remained focused throughout. It was an absolutely incredible performance and moves her well up the world rankings. We’ve had a fantastic few days now with everyone throwing extremely well. They all did really well in Doha at the World Championships and have all moved up a level again from that, it’s been amazing to watch.”