Paris 2024 Paralympics: Mary Fitzgerald 'proud' as she finishes eighth in shot put, Richael Timothy 11th in road race

Irish shot putter Mary Fitzgerald says her thoughts have already turned to the LA Paralympics in 2028 after finishing eighth in the F40 final.

The Kilkenny athlete finished sixth in her first games in Tokyo in 2021, and a best distance of 7.64m in Paris meant that she was unable to match that here.

Gold went to Lara Baars of the Netherlands with a massive throw of 9.10m, a long way forward on the 8.75m that secured gold for Poland's Renata Sliwinska in Tokyo.

"I think a bronze medal required something like seven meters back in Rio (2016) and to look at where the results are today just shows how much the competition and event is improving," Fitzgerald told RTÉ Sport afterwards.

"You just have to work to be up with those girls.

"Look, I’m happy I made the top eight, lots of work to do, but I’m proud."

Fitzgerald was unable to trouble her PB of 8.87m with throws of 7.49m, 7.64m, 7.34m, 7.45m, 7.09m and 7.24.

The 25-year-old said that was a disappointing outcome, but she was proud of her efforts as she got to throw in front of a Paralympic crowd for the first time, given that her first Games were behind closed doors.

"A good bit off my PB, I would definitely would have liked to have thrown further, but I gave my best on the day and that’s all you can do," she said of her performance.

"It started to rain there during the second round so not ideal. I’m sort of used to it being Irish but it’s never ideal being a shot-putter.

"There’s definitely stuff we can improve on, my coach and I and my whole team.

"But I’m very grateful, like all members of my team whether it’s my coach Paul Wilson, my S&C coach Jim Flanagan, Ciara, my sports psych, they've been so supportive, including my family as well who were today as well as some friends."

"I do