Paralympics Day 7: Irish in action and best of the rest as cyclists switch from the velodrome to the roads

8.02am: Richael Timothy – Para Cycling Road C1-3 individual time trial
11.08am: Shauna Bocquet – Para Athletics T54 100m, heats
11.55am: Sarah Slattery – Para Equestrian Grade V individual event
12.30pm: Damien Vereker – Para Cycling Road B individual time trial
1.11pm: Ronan Grimes – Para Cycling Road C4 individual time trial
1.44pm: Josephine Healion & Katie-George Dunlevy – Para Cycling Road B individual time trial
*7.34pm: Shauna Bocquet – Para Athletics T54 100m final
Seven athletes from Team Ireland will compete on Wednesday across cycling, athletics and equestrian events.
As the road cycling events get started, Richael Timothy is back for another event after competing in the C1-3 500m time trial and 3,000m individual pursuit in the velodrome. This time around it’s the C1-3 individual time trial, and she’ll go fourth of the 16 riders. In the afternoon, Damien Vereker is back for the individual time trial, riding second in the B classification, before Ronan Grimes is up in the same event in the C4 category, setting off sixth.
Last to hit the road will be Josephine Healion and Katie-George Dunlevy, who will again compete against each other at the Games, this time in the B individual time trial. Healion is up second, while Dunlevy goes last of the 10 riders.
At Stade de France, Shauna Bocquet is back again for her third event of these Games, this time taking to the track for the T54 100m event. On Saturday, the Galway woman finished eighth in the T54 5,000m final and then was back for the T54 1,500m event on Monday. The 20-year-old placed sixth in the heat, putting her outside the qualification for the final.
In what will be her final event in Paris, Bocquet will be in lane six in the second of Wednesday’s 100m heats. The first three finishers from each of the two heats as well as the next two fastest finishers from the rest of the field will qualify for the evening’s final.
And then at Château de Versailles, the last of Ireland’s para equestrian team, Sarah Slattery, will take to the arena. After her team-mates Kate Kerr-Horan, Jessica McKenna and Michael Murphy competed in their individual events on Tuesday, Slattery, riding Savona, will go 11th of the 17-strong field. The eight highest-ranked competitors after the opening round will progress to the freestyle round where medals are up for grabs.
Wednesday brings the start of the para cycling road events, which has plenty of Irish involvement. The women’s C5 individual time trial kicks off an immensely busy day of cycling that will span more than seven hours as a whopping 19 of the 34 road cycling events are on the agenda.
The cycling route centres around the Seine-Saint-Denis area of Paris, which will also be the scene of Sunday’s four marathons. The 14.2km route is adaptive to facilitate the different event lengths and features a 140m climb.
Seine-Saint-Denis is a hub of Paralympic activity as the area to the northwest of the city is home to many of the Games’ key venues, including Stade de France, as well as the Athletes’ Village. There’s also the added bonus that the entire route will be freely accessible for spectators, so expect to see a lot of support for the athletes along the roads.