Catherine Walsh and Fran Meehan are going to the Rio Games, but this time it's not for cycling. The pair are on the Para Triathlon team.
Having already been successful as a paracycling partnership, Catherine Walsh and Fran Meehan have switched their attention to triathlon and have qualified for the Rio Paralympics.
For Walsh, who is partially sighted, it will be the third sport she has represented Ireland in at a Paralympics have previously been part of the athletics team and also the cycling squad.
Incredibly this will be Walsh’s seventh Paralympics and last time out she and Meehan won silver for Ireland in the women’s individual B pursuit.
And again with Meehan as pilot, they also won bronze in the road TT in London.
They are former world champions on the track and Walsh took a bronze medal at the Sydney Paralympics in the pentathlon.
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Meehan is a top road and cyclocross rider and has won national titles at elite level; three in cyclocross.
Their partnership from cycling appears to have been seamlessly transferred to Para Triathlon; a sport that will be making its Paralympic debut in Rio.
Their places in the Irish team bound for Brazil have recently been confirmed.
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Winning silver on the track at the London Paralympics, they also went on to win bronze in the road TT.
Walsh said that she and Meehan were honoured to be on the Irish team once again for such a special occasion.
“We are absolutely delighted to be given this opportunity to represent Ireland once more at a Paralympic Games,” she said.
“It is fantastic to see that in the first year of Para Triathlon at the Games, there will be Irish triathletes representing their country at Rio.
“We have been working hard all year to get a qualification slot for Rio, and to be told that our hard work has now paid off and that I will be representing my country again for the seventh time at a Paralympic Games is fantastic.
“I look forward to becoming part of a great team of 44 other Paralympic athletes – it’s a fantastic feeling.”
Team leader and technical director for the Para-Triathlon team, Eamonn Tilley said Walsh and Meehan truly deserved to be going to Rio.
“Success comes with hard work, dedication, passion and team work,” he said.
“Catherine and Fran have achieved so much in a short space of time. We at Triathlon Ireland are delighted with the news and it was always our aim to get a Para-triathlete to Rio.
“I am very happy to be involved with such a strong team and I relish the opportunity to work with all of my fellow colleagues and team leaders in the weeks and months leading up to the games."
