From wheelchair basketball to para rowing- Limerick’s Tiarnán O’Donnell set for Paralympic debut

FROM wheelchair basketball to Paralympic rowing, it has been quite a whirlwind for Limerick’s Tiarnán O’Donnell. The Boher native will compete in the PR2 Mixed Double Sculls in Paris alongside Galway’s Katie O’Brien. This marks the return of an Irish Para rowing boat to the Paralympic Games for the first time since London 2012.

Tiarnán, a relative newcomer to the sport of rowing, has already shown immense potential. Initially making a name for himself as one of Ireland’s top wheelchair basketball players, he transitioned to rowing through the PTSB NextGen programme. His rapid progress and natural talent have earned him a place alongside Katie to compete in Paris.

He made his first international appearance in Lucerne, Switzerland for the 2024 World Rowing Cup where he placed second in the single sculls to claim his first rowing medal for Ireland. The 25-year-old followed this performance up with another silver in Poland in the PR2 class, which is for rowers with weakness or absence of leg function.

O’Donnell was diagnosed an AV malformation in his leg when he was only 11-years-old. After consultations with hospitals in America, he decided along with his parents to amputate his leg, which had started to get progressively worse during his teen years.

Tiarnán travelled to London where doctors were able to remove the cancer from his calf and rearrange his knee to make it a pressure point for his prosthetic leg. Since then, he has had to learn to walk again with his prosthesis and thankfully the cancer has not returned.

This lead him down the path of wheelchair basketball in which he picked up at the age of 15 playing with local club Limerick Celtics.

A graduate of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Limerick, Tiarnan featured on the U23 Irish wheelchair basketball team while collecting cup and league wins with his club before changing sports to rowing in the hopes of qualifying for the 2024 Paralympic Games, a dream in which he has completed.

The PR2 Mixed Double Sculls heats take place on Friday, August 30 between 9:30am and 12:50pm. Depending on results in that heat, Tiarnán and Katie will either compete in the repechage the following morning or go straight through to the Mixed Double Sculls final on Sunday, September 1.

Tiarnán’s partner in the double sculls, Katie O’Brien, has Spina Bifida and got involved in the sport through a Paralympics Ireland ‘Come and Try Sports Day’ after being inspired by the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

Katie, from Clarinbridge, is a member of Galway Rowing Club. She previously rowed for UCD Rowing Club while studying Veterinary Medicine. Katie won her first World Championship Medal at the 2019 World Rowing Championships in Linz. By 2022, she progressed to winning gold at the World Rowing Championships and setting a new world record in the PR2 W1x.