James Scully finished sixth in final of the S5 200m Freestyle at the Paralympics on Thursday night.
It was a night of personal achievement for the Dublin swimmer. Earlier in the day, he swam the second fastest time of his career to qualify for the final.
That mark was bettered later in the evening when he swam an incredible personal best of 2:51.45. It smashed his previous time by 1.58 seconds.
After the race, Scully called these Games 'the pinnacle moment of my career to date'.
I’ve been chasing a PB and come up short so many times since London, there’s been so much heartbreak, but to be able to do it, this is when it counts. I knew when I swam 0.1 off it this morning that there was a lot left in the tank and I released it there.
I’m over the moon, 10 out of 10 this is absolutely the pinnacle moment of my career to date. The atmosphere out there, I can’t stress it enough, it will never be matched at another Games, I’m so grateful to Brazil they’ve put on a phenomenal show. People underestimate the crowds, the atmosphere they create, 10,000 people, I know they were screaming for someone else but I went out there and thought they’re screaming for me now, so I embraced the atmosphere.
On RTÉ's coverage of the Paralympics, Olympian Natalya Coyle said Scully will be 'over the moon' with his new lifetime best.
Natalya Coyle says James Scully will be 'over the moon' after his 200m freestyle final sixth #Paralympics https://t.co/6CLceliial
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 8, 2016
Photo by Paul Mohan/Sportsfile
