Team Ireland has 35 athletes competing at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. Out of the 35 athletes, the South East is represented by four competitors.
South East 2024 Paralympic Games Athletes
Kilkenny
Marys Fitzgerald (Kilkenny) will compete for Team Ireland at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games in the F40 Shot Put. Photo: Paralympics Ireland
Name: Mary Fitzgerald
Event: F40 Shot Put
Hometown: Kilkenny
Club: Gowran AC
Mary was initially selected to join Paralympic Ireland's High-Performance squad in 2019 before making her first appearance for Team Ireland in Grosseto.
The Kilkenny native then competed at the 2019 World Champions in Dubai, where she finished 7th overall.
She then went on to win a bronze medal at the 2021 World Para Athletics European Championships before competing at her first Paralympics Games at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Games, where she finished 6th.
Since then, Mary has gone on to completely shatter her former personal best Shot Put throw by recording a throw of 8:87m at the Paula Radcliffe Stadium in Loughborough.
Damien Vereker (Kilkenny) will compete for Team Ireland at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games in the Para Cycling. Photo: Paralympics Ireland
Name: Damien Vereker
Event: B4 Men’s 4000m Individual Pursuit, Men’s B 1000m Time Trial, Men’s B Individual Time Trial, B Road Race
Hometown: Kilkenny
Club: Comeragh Cycling Club
The Kilkenny man made his first Paralympic appearance at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Now competing at his second Games, Vereker is partnered with Donegal's Mitchell McLaughlin. The pair last competed at the 2023 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships in Scotland, where they finished 9th in the Time Trial contest.
Carlow
Aaron Shorten (Carlow) will compete for Team Ireland at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games in the T20 1500m. Photo: Paralympics Ireland
Name: Aaron Shorten
Event: T20 1500m
Hometown: Castledermot, Co. Kildare
Club: St. Laurence O’Toole’s Athletic Club, Carlow
Carlow's Aaron Shorten is competing at his first Paralympic Games in Paris this summer after coming through the Athletics Ireland Juvenile system.
At the Juvenile level, Shorten won 10 All-Ireland National titles.
He made his international debut for Team Ireland at the 2023 Para Athletics World Championships in Paris, where he ran in the 1500m (T20) event where he finished 14th.
Wexford
Linda Kelly (Wexford) will compete for Team Ireland at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games in the Para Cycling. Photo: Paralympics Ireland
Name: Linda Kelly
Event: Women’s B 1000m Time Trial, Women’s B 3000m Individual Pursuit, B B Road Race, B Road Race
Hometown: New Ross, Co. Wexford
Club: Spin the Bean – Powered by Coffee
Also making her Paralympic debut is Wexford's Linda Kelly, who competes as a tandem pilot alongside Katie-George Dunlevy. The pair are certainly ones to watch as they come into the Games, having won gold at the 2023 UCI World Championships alongside an overall victory in the UCI Para-cycling World Cup.
Where to Watch 2024 Paralympic Games
Spectators can tune into the Paris games on Channel 4 and RTÉ. The games are set to start on Wednesday, 28 August, and run until Sunday, 8 September.
The South East is represented at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games, and many medal contenders are among the ranks, so be sure to keep up to date with all the latest sports news on our website, beat102103.com.
