Tully Kearney retained her Paralympic title in style on her way to a second gold medal

It was two gold medals in as many days for Tully Kearney at the Paris 2024 Paralympics as she retained her 100m Freestyle S5 title.

After clinching gold across double the distance in the opening finals session at the La Defense Arena, Kearney doubled up on Freestyle medals and Paralympic titles on day two.

However, the 27-year-old admitted that she found her second gold ‘more difficult’ after the pressure she placed on herself to defend her crown.

Kearney finished just 0.71 outside of the time that saw her secure Paralympic gold in Tokyo but was still more than two seconds ahead of her nearest competitor – Ukraine’s Iryna Poida.

Her gold medal-winning time in Paris was 1:15.10, which was 2.65 seconds faster than she went in the heats.

The podium looked the same as it did after the 200m Freestyle final, with Poida winning the silver medal and Italy’s Monica Boggioni taking bronze.

Kearney said she spent the 24 hours in between her gold medal wins refuelling and trying to get as much sleep as possible in an attempt to recover for day two.

Stop questioning myself

Her recovery certainly worked and on winning her second gold, she said: “It’s made me realise that I need to stop questioning myself and my abilities.

“It was easier in a way [after breaking the ice yesterday] – but I found it more difficult because of the pressure. I wanted to retain my title.

“I was pretty nervous. I wasn’t quite sure how that one would go but really happy with that time. Technically I think I nailed what I needed to do and hopefully my coach will say the same thing when I speak to him later.”

Similarly to her 200m final, Kearney again produced an impressive turn in her 100m final and when asked if that was a key element of her race plans, she added: “Yeah, the turn and the breathe out, so not breathing too much, try and conserve energy.

“Not looking around as well. It’s so tempting when you know that they’re just there but obviously that slows you down so I knew I just had to get my head down and just keep going.

“It’s incredible [to win two golds] and as I’ve said before, I’ve struggled with my mental health and I hope this proves to everyone else that’s struggling that you can still achieve things and it doesn’t mean that that’s the end.”