Feeny para-athlete wins first major medal in European swimming championships

Feeny native Dearbhaile Brady (17) has won a European bronze medal in the 50m freestyle final in Madeira, Portugal.

Dearbhaile Brady has experienced the world stage already having competed at the Para Swimming Championships last August in Manchester, however this was her first time at these European Championships. Additionally, she competed in three events, a big step up from her one event at Worlds. 

In a race that went right down to the wire on Thursday, Brady’s fellow Irish teammate and icon Nicole Turner won the joint gold medal alongside their Swiss competitor, to which Brady followed right behind, before being presented with her first ever major championship medal.

The County Derry athlete said: “It was quite a shock seeing my name come up there. I was really nervous coming into the race but I’m really proud of how I swam.”

Brady returned to the pool for the 50m butterfly final on Saturday evening and narrowly missed a place on the podium to Maisie Summers-Newton. Nicole Turner claimed the silver spot, her third medal of the championships.

The Irish Para Swimming Team returned to Ireland this week with extra weight in their luggage, having secured a record haul. The team of 6 collected a staggering twelve medals over the course of the week’s finals.

Dearbhaile’s mother, Brigid Brady, spoke to the County Derry Post on her daughter’s  achievements in the competition, and was clearly overjoyed saying: “Dearbhaile was absolutely fantastic, with some great results. She is very excited to be competing at this level. Dearbhaile just wasn’t expecting to win anything, and was really delighted to see her name on the board on Thursday. Narrowly missing out on another medal on Saturday, I think will drive her ahead, and hopefully now she will be picked for [the 2024 Summer Paralympic Games in] Paris.”

The 2024 Summer Paralympic Games will be held in Paris, France, between 28 August and 8 September 2024.