Cork Athletics
North Cork AC's Noelle Lenihan wins Gold for Ireland and sets new World Record at IPC Athletics European Championships
Cork’s Noelle Lenihan has added to Ireland’s medal collection at the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) Athletics European Championships this evening, when she secured a gold medal and set a new World Record in the F38 Discus final.
Noelle set the new World Record on her very first attempt, when she threw a whopping 32.14m – a throw that put her straight to the top of the table and eventually won her the gold medal.
Speaking about the fantastic performance, National Throws Coach Dave Sweeney said: “She did great, and we're really happy. She was very controlled, and to be honest, she has been throwing further than that the last few days in training so she's a little bit disappointed that she didn't throw further today! There was a tricky wind, which blew a lot of the discs down so it was a fantastic for her to throw so well in those conditions."
"This is a really big step in her career - to break a World Record and win a European Championships in one go and to then be a little bit unhappy with the performance is the sign of a good mindset and a sign of more exciting things to come in Rio!
"She will come away from today having learned a lot, she had very good competition there so she was pushed to the very end and we're delighted for her."
This was Ireland’s second medal of the Championships, following on from Deirdre Mongan’s bronze medal on Day 1 (Saturday, June 11th) in the F53/54 Shot Put final.
Noelle Linehan - Cork City Sports Athlete of the Month - September 2015
Last October, Noelle was honoured with the Cork City Sports Athlete of the Month award or September, for her World Record throw of 31.64m, in the F38 catefory, at the World Championships, in Doha, Quatar
Noelle Linehan Interview
Interview with Noelle Linehan - Cork City Sports Athlete of the Month October 2015 from Webmaster - Cork Athletics on Vimeo.