RÓISÍN NÍ RÍAIN is still only 20, and it is hard to think of many Irish athletes with a comparable list of achievements when they had barely exited their teens.

At the age of four, she began taking swimming lessons at the University of Limerick.

All her subsequent accolades are too numerous to mention. However, since swimming got serious around the age of 15, she has competed in two Paralympic Games — Tokyo 2020, when she was only 16, where she made five finals, and Paris 2024, where she won a silver and bronze medal for the 100m Backstroke and 200m individual medley.

After that early momentous achievement in Japan, success continued at an impressive rate. In 2021, Ní Ríain won her first medal at international level at the Europeans. In 2022, she won her first world medal. And in 2023, she was crowned world champion at the Para Swimming Championships in Manchester.

The past month has felt similarly significant for Ní Ríain, whose three younger sisters also swim and “race at a national level in Ireland”.

At the recent World Championships in Singapore, Ní Ríain won three silvers (100m Breaststroke SB13, 100m Backstroke S13, 400m Freestyle S13) and two bronzes (100m Butterfly S13, 200m Individual Medley SM13).

In doing so, the Limerick native became the most decorated Irish Paralympian at a single World Championships.

“It never really fully hits until you get home, for sure,” she tells The 42, when asked about her latest triumph. “You’re in such a bubble, especially over there, and I was obviously racing so many different events, so I suppose when you’re over there, it’s about being happy, being in the moment.

“But then, you’ve come down from that quite quickly and get ready to set up for your next race the following day or the day after that.

“So it’s only after I’ve come home that I’ve gotten to spend time with friends and family and those who’ve supported me, and that always makes it feel that bit more real. So to be able to come home now and take a week to reflect, I’m super happy and excited for what’s ahead as well.”

Partaking in so many events in a relatively short space of time at the level Ní Ríain is competing can be exhausting mentally and physically. But her meticulous, months-long preparation enabled Ní Ríain to cope in this intense, pressurised environment.

“It is quite tiring, and definitely by the end of the week, you’re happy to be finished,” she says.

“But we work all year round with quite a lot of heavy training, and then that sets me up well, and it always gives me the confidence to know that the training I put down in the last months and weeks, I suppose, has been able to put me in the position where I can handle all those races. 

“So it definitely is learning how to balance and learning how to deal with that. But I think the training that I do ultimately sets me up to be able to give my best on day one, and see that through, to give my best on day seven as well.”

She continues: “One of the mindsets I like to have is that what we do in training is always going to be so, so much harder than what we do when it comes to racing. Racing is almost the easy part of it. You’ve put in all the weeks, months, hours in the pool and the gym, and into your lifestyle. 

“So when race day comes, it’s mostly for me about enjoyment. And being happy, being healthy, being proud that I’m able to be there and be on the start line, be in good shape, and I know that the rest of it will take care of itself.”

Róisín Ní Ríain, pictured competing. Tom Maher / INPHO Tom Maher / INPHO / INPHO

Of the five, one medal in particular gave Ní Ríain a sense of satisfaction. Having just missed out on the podium by finishing fourth at the Paris Games in the butterfly, claiming a bronze this time around in the same event was especially pleasing.

“Being able to come out with that same field and those same girls, and being able to race them, but this time, get on the right side of that and get on the podium [was great],” she explains.

“And it was also the event that I pushed a lot more focus into this year. So to be able to come out, get that redemption from Paris. And also that set my week up well, and gave me the confidence that I knew I was swimming well then, into the rest of the week.”

As you may have guessed by now, Ní Ríain, who is in her third year of four studying pharmaceutical chemistry at UL, has a thirst for success that is unquenchable.

“What I love so much about racing is, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a good race or a bad race, we always [watch the footage back]. So be it, after a heat, we sit down, we go through the race analysis and pick one or two things to work on to make it better in the final, and then we sit down, at the end of the year, the start of the next year, and say: ‘Okay, what we did there was good. It was very good, but there’s always room for improvement.’

“And I think that’s one of the things I enjoy the most about sport is that, regardless of how good or how bad your swim was, there will always be room for improvement.

“So, for me, next year, the year after, the year after, I just need to be able to bring the very best that I can bring, and at the end of the day, I have to be happy with that. So whatever place that gets me, first, second, third or fourth, whatever place in the final, I have to always be happy, and the biggest thing is enjoying what I’m doing. Because I always like the phrase ‘a happy swimmer is a fast swimmer,’ and I always believe that to be true.”

All these achievements have come despite Ní Ríain suffering from coloboma, defined as “a condition where normal tissue in or around the eye is missing at birth”.

“I have pretty much no vision in my left eye, and then very, very limited vision in my right eye,” she explains.

“It impacts me quite a lot, but I’ve learned all the different strategies to be able to deal with that and overcome that.

“So, just little things that I can do to make it that bit easier for myself are what I’ve learned over the years.”