The 19-year-old Comber man is tipped for a big future in paralympic swimming and ends his Games having reach one final, the S9 men’s 100m backstroke, while clocking a personal best time of 1:05.76. "Nelson was saying to us six weeks ago that her stroke was off because of the shoulder injury and we really didn't know how these Games would go but she's proved to us all that with her faith and with prayers from everyone, she's done it."Īlso in action on Thursday was Firth’s Ards SC clubmate Barry McClements, who agonisingly missed out on a spot in the S9 men’s 100 butterfly final by just 0.66 seconds. "This isn't just her medal, this is Nelson's as well for getting her into her happy place and teaching her to swim.
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"When she was out for months on end with those shoulder problems, Nelson had to teach her the strokes again. "She's a bit like Dory from Finding Nemo, she forgets things so Nelson has to reiterate things," Lindsey said.
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When it got taken away during COVID, I really struggled" pays tribute to her family for helping her through tough times ☺️? #Tokyo2020 #C4Paralympics /y0W2hI6Ki6- C4 Paralympics September 2, 2021įirth has an intellectual impairment that results in memory problems and her mum Lindsey was keen to explain just how troublesome that proved during her spells out with three shoulder injuries and how big a role Ards Swimming Club coach Nelson Lindsay played on the road to Tokyo. In the final, she had the quickest reaction time of 0.54 seconds and never looked like surrendering that advantage, leading at the turn and coasting home in a time of 1:05.92 to beat the Russian Olympic Committee’s Valeriia Shabalina by 0.93 seconds.įirth’s Great Britain team-mate Jessica-Jane Applegate took bronze. That's what it should be about, not the medals."įirth, 25, went into Thursday’s backstroke final as the fancied favourite, not just because of her historic success but also because she led the qualifying times after clocking a 1:07.16 in her heat. "In sport, people only care if you win gold or silver but everyone here should be so proud to be at the Paralympics and doing it in front of their country and the world.
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“Coming into this, I just wanted to show people what you could do even though the year's been crap. "I always say nothing's impossible with God and I truly believe that,” she said. Nonetheless, she will return home having medalled in all four of her events, also winning gold as part of the Team GB mixed 4x100 freestyle relay as well as silvers in the SM14 women’s 200m individual medley and the S14 women’s 200m freestyle. "They all build me up so I’m glad to show them all their hard work wasn’t for nothing.”Īhead of this summer’s trip to Tokyo, her training had been severely hampered not only by the Covid-19 pandemic but also by problems with shoulder injuries. "Swimming's my happy place and when it got taken away from me during the pandemic, I really struggled, I needed them, needed my church and needed my coach.
#COMING OUT ON TOP MAIN GALLERY FREE#
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