In case you missed all the action in the Discuss Final here are some of the highlights from Noelle’s great day in Rio.
Noelle was drawn to throw second in the opening round and set a strong marker for the rest of the field setting a new Paralympic record of 31.71m. But her main challenger to the title Mi Na had her own marker to set, breaking the world record with her opening throw.
The atmosphere in the stadium built over the four following rounds as the largest crowd to date in the Paralympics cheered on Brazilian Shirlene Coelho who was in second place between Noelle and Mi Na. The final round of throws was a nail biting affair as Noelle was under pressure to stay ahead of the Canadian Renne Danielle Foessel who was throwing very consistently and had beaten/run very close to Noelle in every round bar the crucial opening round. If she beat Noelle’s record throw of 31.71m then Noelle would have to throw better again to keep her hands on the Bronze. Here is the video from that crucial final set of throws.
Noelle’s level of maturity on the field was only surpassed by her maturity in the media centre afterwards. Not many 16 year olds would perform as well as Noelle did in front of the worlds media.
Unfortunately the live TV coverage ended before the medal ceremony took place. Fortunately though the Paralympics Committee have an excellent Youtube Channel. Here is the medal ceremony that we all missed:
Hazelwood College student Noelle Lenihan will tonight grace the world stage at the Opening Ceremony of the IPC Paralympics in Rio, Brazil. At 17 years old, Hazelwood College’s Noelle Lenihan is one of Ireland’s youngest athletes and has been named by the International Paralymic Committee as ‘One to Watch’. Noelle won silver at the 2015 World Championships and gold in this year’s European Championships. Having already twice broken the world record in the F38 Discuss, Noelle is first in the world rankings and one of our best medal prospects.
Everyone at Hazelwood College wishes her the best in this years Paralympics and (no pressure!) we can’t wait to see her win the medal on the 17th of September in the Dicuss (F38)
Here is Noelle’s Profile from the International Paralymics website:
LENIHAN Noelle
Sport
Athletics
NPC
Ireland
Gender
Women
Age
16
Sport Specific Information
When and where did you begin this sport?
She took up para-athletics in Charleville, Ireland.
Why this sport?
Her father trained as an athletics coach so that he could train her.
Club / Team
North Cork Athletics Club: Ireland
Name of coach
Dave Sweeney [national]; Jim Lenihan [father]
Senior International Debut
Year
2015
Competing for
Ireland
Tournament
Grand Prix
Location
Berlin, GER
General Interest
Sporting philosophy / motto
“Throw me to the wolves and I’ll return leading the pack.” (Instagram profile, 09 Sep 2015)
Awards and honours
She received the Achievement Award at the 2015 Munster Star Awards in Ireland. (corkathletics.org, 2016)
She was named the Sportswoman of the Month for October 2015 by Cork City Sports in Ireland. (irishtimes.com, 12 Nov 2015)
Famous relatives
Her sisters Megan and Eimear have both competed in athletics at national level. (hazelc.ie, 20 May 2014)
Ambitions
To win a medal at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. (the42.ie, 26 Mar 2016)
It has been a busy start to the semester for the athletes of Hazelwood College, competing on the provincial, national and even international arenas as they arena.
To start with, the most noteworthy Hazelwood athlete is Noelle Lenihan. Noelle, a fifth year student in Hazelwood travelled to Doha in Qatar to compete in the World Para Games in the discus. Travelling out to Doha, her personal best in the discus was just over 30m, which saw her ranked third in the world rankings. Noelle, accompanied by her father and coach and Dave Mc Sweeney, got a week to practice in Doha leading up to the games. During this week, Noelle indicated that things were looking good with consistent throws in the range of her personal best. This put her in good fettle for the competition. On the day of the competition Noelle, described as being as cool as a breeze, showed none of the normal nerves with a first international competition. Her first throw was a personal best just over 31m, putting her in second place. He second round throw of 31.68m was her furthest throw, cementing her silver medal. A silver medal at a world championship is a massive achievement, but what makes this even more impressive was that Noelle was competing against senior athletes. She was the youngest in the competition, by far. On top of this, her silver medal throw was a world record for her classification.
Hazelwood College wishes to extend Noelle and her family huge congratulations on her achievement. On the provincial front,
Hazelwood College sent a team of four athletes to the Munster Schools’ Combined Events Finals. Jack McCarthy competed in junior boys’ competition. This was his first time competing in combined events. The events for the boys included the 60m hurdles, long jump, shot putt, 200m and the 800m. Jack competed well, getting personal bests in the 60m hurdles, long jump and 800m, ultimately finishing fourteenth out of a field of fifty three.
Kevin O’Leary and Ethan Knipe competed in the intermediate boys’ competition. Both boys recorded more than one personal best in their competitions, Ethan ran a time of 28.7s for his 200m, taking one second off his personal best. Kevin recorded 3 personal bests, including 8.38m in the shot, 26.8 in the 200m and 2.35 in the 800m. These results placed Ethan and Kevin in 17th and 9th place respectively, out of a field of 32. With a further season of training under their belts, they will surely contend for medals next year.
Laoise Bennis competed in the senior girls’ competition. Although she was not in top form, due to missing training due to injury, she still did enough to secure the gold medal and qualification for the national combined events final in Athlone. The extra couple of weeks training between the Munsters and the Nationals stood to Laoise. She was able to improve her measure in the high jump to 1.52m and her long jump to 4.40m to put her in contention for the gold medal. However lack of time to train over hurdles and shot saw the leader open a gap that was going to be hard to catch. Going into the 800m, Laoise was in second place needing to beat the girl in first place by 20 seconds. She went out hard in the 800m, opening a lead of 7 seconds. However the leader spotted the gap and worked her way back onto Laoise’s shoulder to just pass her on the line. This meant that Laoise would have to settle for silver. It is worth mentioning that this is the first ever National Secondary School medal won by a Hazelwood College Athlete. Considering the form and improvements made by other Hazelwood athletes, this will not be the last.
Congratulations to Hazelwood College student Noelle Lenihan on winning a Silver Medal for Ireland at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha. On her way to securing the medal Noelle set a new personal best on her first throw and a new World Record with her second throw.
Also congratulations to her father, Jim, who is also Noelle’s coach and all at North Cork Athletics Club.
Here is a video of the Victory Cermony from Doha:
Here is a video of the final itself:
Here is the story of Noelle’s success as reported on RTE Sport
Teenager Noelle Lenihan takes silver in Doha
Updated: Monday, 26 Oct 2015 16:30
Fifteen-year-old Noelle Lenihan from Charleville in Co Cork has sensationally won discus silver at the IPC Paralympic Athletics World Championships in Doha today.
The teenager, who was making her major championship debut, showed a complete absence of anticipated nerves in recording a lifetime best throw of 30.68metres with her very first attempt.
Impressively she followed this up with another lifetime best and new F38 world record of 31.64m with her second throw.
This mark was the best of her six attempts and secured her the much coveted silver medal behind F37 reigning Paralympic champion Na Mi of China with a winning mark of 33.59m. Renee-Danielle Foessel took bronze with 30.39m.
Smashing pic of Noelle with her world silver,proud dad & coach Jim & national coach @ThrowsIreland #irishroadtorio pic.twitter.com/vyz1j9CP4R
— Paralympics Ireland (@ParalympicsIRE) October 26, 2015
Reacting to her medal win Lenihan said: “I got a PB, world record and silver medal in my first major championship. I turn 16 in a few days’ time so naturally I’m going to gain more experience and improve my explosive power which can only results in further improvement.
“But for today I’m delighted. My dad, who’s my coach, and my older siblings are all here in the crowd supporting me which is very special.”
Speaking about Noelle’s performance, Irish national Paralympic throws coach Dave Sweeney said: “I can’t believe how well Noelle handled the pressure of competing at this level. She was like a seasoned pro.
“Even after breaking the world record she remained focused on the small details that we agreed would make her throw well. At 15 years old she has an incredible future in this sport. Hopefully they’ll have some great celebrations in North Cork Athletics club.”
Tomorrow is set to be the busiest day for the Irish team in Doha: four Irish athletes are in action.
Throwers Orla Barry and Deirdre Mongan are out first in the morning session in their respective finals; F57 discus and F53 dhot put.
In the evening session three time Paralympian wheelchair racer John McCarthy will line up in the heats of the T51m 100m hoping to advance to the final.
Another major championship debutant, Waterford’s Hayley Fitzsimons goes in the final of the F40 shot put keen to gain valuable experience at this level.
Finally Noelle’s success as reported in the Irish Independent on Tuesday 27th October
