Team Ireland’s final swimmer took to the pool of the Tokyo Aquatic Centre early morning on Day Ten of Tokyo 2020
Patrick Flanagan – S6 100m Backstroke Heat 2
This is Flanagan’s second race of his debut Paralympic games. Yesterday he finished in seventh place in the 400m Freestyle.
This morning, the Sligo man was hoping to build on that performance in the Backstroke. After watching a very strong opening heat, Flanagan would take part in the second race.
#ParaSwimming Patrick Flanagan becomes a Paralympian at #Tokyo2020 – Patrick finished 7th place in the S6 400 Freestyle with a time of 5:40.48.
He will return to action tomorrow for the S6 100m Backstroke.#TeamIreland | #TheNextLevel | #Paralympics pic.twitter.com/xSxnnWmVir
— Paralympics Ireland (@ParalympicsIRE) September 2, 2021
The Irish swimmer started the race in the water in lane seven with six other very strong swimmers. The outside lanes are normally the hardest places to start a race and he struggled to keep up with the leaders in the beginning.
Flanagan started to speed up before the only turn and he jumped up to fifth place. He held his position for the remainder of the race, not able to find the extra gear needed to scare the event favorites.
The Irishman hit the wall in a time of 1:26.81, this was unfortunately not enough for him to progress to the finals later today.
#ParaSwimming Patrick Flanagan wrapped up #Tokyo2020 for #TeamIreland Swim Team this morning 🏊♂️
Patrick swam a time of 1:26.81 in the S6 100m Backstroke Heat. #TeamIreland | #TheNextLevel pic.twitter.com/mCn61MxKXQ
— Paralympics Ireland (@ParalympicsIRE) September 3, 2021
The end of the event concludes Flanagan’s Paralympic journey in Tokyo but as a young debutant, he still has many years ahead of him and Paris is only three years away.
He has done his coach David Malone and the people of Rosses point proud with two strong races as part of a historic Irish Paralympic team.
