TAOISEACH Simon Harris led the celebrations after Team Ireland secured its first gold medal at the Paris Paralympics.
Champion para cyclist Katie-George Dunlevy rode to victory with pilot Linda Kelly in the Para Cycling (road race) B Time Trial yesterday.
The pair put in an impressive performance on the bike, covering 28.3km in a time of 38.16.58.
When asked how she was feeling after the race, Dunlevy said: “Pain is the word!.
“It was a really, really challenging course. Really technical,” she added.
“I thought we were going to come off a few times but that’s racing for you.
“You’re on the limit. We knew the course suited us, the uphill sections suited us so we had to really go over on our power on those hill parts because that was where we’d get time on the other bikes and I think we delivered a really good ride.
“Even on the second lap we were able to push out big power on those hills. When we heard we were down on the first lap I thought ‘keep going, just keep going’.”
Dunlevy, who was born in Crawley, west Sussex but has family roots in Donegal, has now secured her second medal of the games, after winning silver with pilot Eve McCrystal in the Women’s B 3000m Individual Pursuit on September 1, with a time of 3:21.315,
Congratulating her after her gold medal win – Ireland’s first of the Paralympics tournament – Taoiseach Simon Harris said: “Ireland’s first Paralympic gold this year!
“Absolutely incredible effort from Katie-George Dunlevy and Linda Kelly.
“Ireland is so proud of you. Congratulations to the champions!”