2024 Paris Paralympic Games Moreton Bay coverage: Ricky Betar kicks off his campaign

Image above: Ricky Betar in action at the Paralympic trials. Courtesy Delly Carr

Morayfield’s Ricky Betar has opened his Paris Paralympics campaign with a valiant swim in the first heat of the men’s 200m freestyle S14.

He kept pace with fellow swimmers in the first 50m, turning fourth with a split of 27.98 behind race leader Nicholas Bennett of Canada, who posted a time of 26.67 in the first and finished the heat in the lead at 1.54.72.

In the second 50, Betar’s 31.74 saw him drop to fifth place; he maintained fifth in the third lap with a split of 31.87 and again as the race closed, with 32.42 for a finishing time of 2.04.01.

While Betar didn't qualify for the final, fellow Aussie Jack Ireland did, with the third-fastest time from the two heats.

More events to come

Betar, who is autistic, will now focus on his other events in Paris – the 200m Individual Medley (IM) and the 100m backstroke.

Of his events, Betar’s best chance may be the 200m IM, where he is currently ranked sixth in the world.

He’ll swim in lane three in heat two of the event on September 4. The first of two heats starts at 5.45pm AEST.

Betar competes in the 100m backstroke heat one on September 6 at 6.34pm, where he'll swim in lane three.

Paris is Betar’s second Paralympics. In Tokyo three years ago, he won a silver medal with Australia’s mixed 4x100m freestyle relay S14 team.

In Tokyo he also qualified for the finals in the 200m freestyle S14 and 100m butterfly S14 and finished seventh and eighth respectively.

In the lead-up to the Paris Games, Betar was training twice daily at UniSC on the Sunshine Coast, under Paralympic Hub head coach Harley Connolly.