Orla Comerford and Colin Judge selected as Team Ireland flagbearers

Orla Comerford and Colin Judge will carry the flag for Team Ireland at the opening ceremony at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

Comerford will compete in her third Paralympic Games after her debut appearance at the Rio 2016 games. The T13 100m sprinter has been in electric form of late dropping her personal best time below 12 seconds for the first time in her career.

She will also compete this weekend in London as she continues her preparation for Paris. Comerford has been a European Championship bronze medallist and she finished in fourth place at the most recent World Championships, missing out narrowly on a medal.

Table tennis star Judge will be competing in his second games but will be expected a much different atmosphere to his debut in Tokyo where supporters were unable to attend.

Judge, too, has been in fantastic form this season, advancing to the later stage in several competitions including winning bronze at the European Championships and more recently silver at the Czech Open.

The opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will be held at the Place de la Concorde on 29 August, marking the first time that the ceremony will take place outside of the main stadium.

There are 35 athletes set to compete for Ireland at the games across nine sports.

Speaking about the announcement, chef de mission Neasa Russell said: "These two athletes epitomise the hard work and dedication it takes to be a high performance athlete. They have both achieved great things on the international stage and there is much more to come from both of them.

"Moreover they are great people and great leaders who perfectly demonstrate the qualities and values of Team Ireland and I know they will both be very positive role models for the team and for