Paralympics 2024: Ireland’s Barry McClements an impressive fifth in S9 100m butterfly final

Ireland swimmer Barry McClements produced his fastest ever S9 100m butterfly swim but it wasn’t enough to earn him a medal as he finished fifth in a high-class final at the Paralympics.

The Newtownards man’s time cut 0.15 seconds off his lifetime best as he clocked 1:01.24 but it still left him 0.16 seconds behind Australia’s bronze medallist Lewis Bishop.

Italy’s gold medal favourite Simone Barlaam clinched his expected dominant victory as he clocked a European record of 57.99 seconds to finish 2.04 seconds ahead of another Australian Timothy Hodge.

McClements produced a superb closing 50 metres to put himself in medal contention but the wall came too soon for the 22-year-old as he had to settle for fifth with another Italian Federico Morlacchi missing out on the bronze medal by 0.02 seconds.

The team Ireland swimmer was competing in his second final at the Paris Games after finishing eighth in the S9 men’s 100m backstroke on Tuesday.

In his morning heat, McClements clocked 1:01.85 which left him as sixth fastest qualifier as Barlaam led the qualifiers after winning the closing heat in 1:00.17.

McClements, who made his Paralympics debut in Tokyo three years ago, won Northern Ireland’s first ever Commonwealth Games swimming medal when he clinched S9 men’s 100m backstroke bronze in Birmingham in 2022.

He won a bronze medal in the 100m butterfly event at this year’s European Championships.

The county Down man had his right leg amputated above the knee due to a rare birth defect called fibular hemimelia when he was just 10 months old.