ORLA COMERFORD HAS won her T13 100m heat to qualify for tonight’s final.
The Raheny Shamrocks athlete ran a blistering second half of the race to clock a time of 12.02 from lane eight, and in the process to edge out Bianca Borgella, the 2023 World Championships silver medallist. Kym Crosby of the United States came home in third.
Orla Comerford qualifies for the final of the T13 100m in style, winning her heat in 12.02 seconds to finish third-fastest of those to reach the final. #RTEparalympics #Paris2024
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 3, 2024
📺Watch @rteplayer
📱Updates https://t.co/v5Bu3YtMjU pic.twitter.com/9ryoo1VJQy
Tonight’s final takes place at 7.13pm at the Stade de France. Comerford faces strong competition in the form of Brazil’s Rayane Soares da Silva and Lamiya Valiyeva of Azerbaijan.
Valiyeva clocked a personal best of 11.81 in heat one, while Valiyeva ran 11.90. Comerford, 26, will be aiming to surpass her personal best of 11.90, that she set during the National Championships in July, as she chases gold.
Speaking after the race, Comerford said: “I’m happy with that, that was the aim of the morning to be decisive in the heat, win it, so I’m glad to have done that and be safely through to later. I’ll go back now, rest up, get a bit of food and come back and hopefully do much the same.
“I was feeling really confident coming into today’s race, really comfortable and really excited. This whole experience has been amazing. Tokyo was obviously really tough for me and it’s not till you get to Paris that you look back and think how weird that was.
“But even on a wet morning like this with not a full stand, I got such loud support which makes me really excited for later. The support has been overwhelming and I feel very lucky.”
