Online training paves the way for big shot Fitzgerald

Back in May, Para shot putter Mary Fitzgerald travelled to the UK to fine tune her build-up to Paris.

While not technically assured of her spot at a second Paralympic Games, her distance from the 2023 World Championships looked to have her well placed.

The 24-year-old was competing against both para and non-disability athletes at the Paula Radcliffe Stadium in Loughborough, and put to bed any doubt over her participation in the French capital by putting over half a metre onto her personal best with a throw of 8.87m.

"I knew there was something in me, maybe a nice PB, but didn't anticipate it being that big," she tells RTÉ Sport.

"I usually know (that it’s good when leaves her fingers) but not this one. I threw it but it nothing amazing in my head. I had no sense of it really and then it came up on the board on one of those manual boards where they flick the dial, like something from the '80s.

"I was in total disbelief and just so excited. It was a nice confidence booster and set me up nicely for Paris."

The Kilkenny woman joined the Paralympic Ireland’s High Performance squad in 2019, marking her first international event with a credible seventh-place finish at that year’s World Championships.

A bronze at the 2021 World Para Athletics European Championships set her up nicely for Tokyo, and again she held her own on the elite stage, claiming sixth on her Paralympic debut.

Fitzgerald cites "a lot of factors coming together" for her significant improvement earlier this summer, but the most obvious one is that of her coach Paul Wilson, a name synonymous with the world of shot put.

Reigning women’s indoor and outdoor world champion Chase Jackson and 10-time British national champions Scott Lincoln are just some of the names within his