GB athletes to follow at Paris Paralympics

Sophie Hahn was inspired to take up Para-athletics after watching London 2012

The Great Britain team for the 2024 Paris Paralympics will feature more than 210 athletes competing across 19 sports.

It includes a mix of experienced campaigners, as well as some Games debutants, with all aiming to impress on the big stage in front of crowds after Tokyo 2020 was held behind closed doors.

Here, we look at some of those hoping to shine in the French capital once the Paralympic action begins on 29 August.

Sophie Hahn - Para-athletics

Since retaining her T38 100m title in Tokyo, equalling her own world record in the process, things have not been plain sailing for the 27-year-old from Nottingham.

Hahn suffered a setback at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, losing out to GB team-mate Olivia Breen for her first major competition 100m final defeat since 2014.

The 2023 Worlds in Paris were another tough experience for Hahn with bronze in both the 100m and 200m – although the latter is not a Paralympic event – while she finished with a silver as part of the universal relay team.

She faces a formidable challenge in Paris against current world champion Luca Ekler of Hungary and Colombian pair Darian Jiminez, the 2023 world champion and Tokyo silver medallist, and Karen Palomeque, who won silver behind Ekler in Kobe, plus Greek newcomer Lida Manthopolou.

But an impressive run at the London Diamond League meeting last month in 12.55 seconds – the fastest time in the world this year – shows that Hahn is in good form and she will not give up her title without a fight.

T38 100m: Saturday, 31 August; 4x100m universal relay: Friday, 6 September

William Ellard (Para-swimming)

One of 16 debutants on the British Para-swimming team, Ellard is hoping to make an impact in the S14 category for swimmers with intellectual impairments and follow former GB swimmer Reece Dunn who came away from Tokyo with three golds, a silver and a bronze.

The 18-year-old from Beccles is based at St Felix Swimming Club and has made big strides over the last couple of years.

He made his major international debut at last year’s Para-swimming Worlds in Manchester, taking silver in the 200m freestyle and winning gold and silver medals in the relays.

Earlier this year he equalled the 200m freestyle world record, held by Dunn, and also tops the 2024 100m butterfly world rankings. He claimed gold in both events at the Open European Championships in Madeira in April and also showed his versatility with backstroke silver and medley bronze as he prepares for individual events and the freestyle relay.

Away from the pool, Ellard is a big Formula 1 fan and can name every F1 world champion from 1950-2023.

S14 butterfly: Thursday, 29 August; S14 200m freestyle: Saturday, 31 August; S14 Mixed 4x100m freestyle relay: Sunday, 1 September; SM14 200m medley: Wednesday, 4 September; S14 100m backstroke: Friday, 6 September

Kadeena Cox (Para-cycling)

After competing in both cycling and athletics at the past two Games, Cox will be focusing on the bike this time around.

The 33-year-old from Leeds started her sporting career as a sprinter before a stroke in 2014 led to her being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and starting on her Para-sport career.

At her first Games in Rio, she became the first Briton to win a medal in two sports since 1988 with gold in cycling and athletics and was the flagbearer at the closing ceremony.

Between Rio and Tokyo, she had to deal with a knee injury, the after-effects of concussion and the impact of disordered eating as well as the pandemic, but still retained her C4-5 500m time trial crown and was also part of the victorious mixed team sprint squad. She finished fourth in her athletics event - the T38 400m.

The build-up to Paris has also been challenging with Cox having a relapse of her MS just days after winning gold at the 2023 World Championships in Glasgow and then sustaining two calf muscle tears which ended her chances of competing in athletics in Paris, although she did retain her world title in Brazil in March and will want to impress again on the big stage.

Women’s C4-5 500m: Thursday, 29 August; Mixed C1-5 team sprint: Sunday, 1 September

Phil Pratt - Wheelchair basketball

Although the 30-year-old Welshman started his sporting career as a wheelchair tennis player, it is wheelchair basketball where he has become one of the best players in the world.

Pratt’s first Paralympic experience came at the London 2012 opening ceremony when he and seven of his GB Under-23 team-mates carried the flag into the stadium.

Two years later he made his GB senior debut at the World Championships and has been an integral part of the squad since then, winning bronze at Rio 2016 and captaining the team to world gold in 2018 and also winning European gold.

However, various on and off-court issues led him to opt out of selection for the Tokyo Paralympics and he said that watching from home as his team-mates won bronze helped fuelled him on for Paris.

Now based with European and Spanish champions Amiab Albacete, Pratt returned to the squad and at the World Championships, which were played in Dubai in 2023, was a key figure as GB won silver after a last-gasp loss to the USA. He was named in the tournament’s All Star Five.

Men’s wheelchair basketball: Thursday, 29 August-Saturday, 7 September

Claire Taggart - Boccia

Taggart will be hoping to make it third time lucky at her third Games in Paris.

Already a history-maker, she was the first athlete from Northern Ireland to compete in the sport when she made her debut in Rio in 2016 and will be aiming to become the first woman to win individual gold for ParalympicsGB since 1984 when she competes in the BC2 event.

Aged 19, she was diagnosed with the neurological condition dystonia which leads to joint and muscle contractions and spasms and became a full-time wheelchair user.

Finding boccia changed her life completely and she joined the world class programme in 2015.

Since Tokyo, the sport has separated the category into separate men’s and women’s events and Taggart secured world gold in Rio in 2022 and European bronze in 2023 and comes to Paris as world number one and will also be part of the BC1/2 team.

Taggart, now 29, is also a keen music fan and an animal lover with six tortoises including Gary Lightbody (named after the lead singer of Snow Patrol) and Biffy (named after Scottish rock band Biffy Clyro). She is also disability access officer for Irish League champions Larne FC.

Women’s BC2: Thursday, 29 August-Sunday, 1 September; BC1/2 team: Tuesday, 3-Thursday, 5 September

Jonnie Peacock - Para-athletics

Peacock has won a medal at each of this three previous Paralympic Games and will want to secure another at his fourth.

Millions of people remember him as a 19-year-old shushing the crowd at London 2012 before he stormed to victory in the T44 100m.

Four years later he retained his title in Rio and then added the 2017 world title in London before a stint on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing later that year, where he was the first amputee to take part in the show.

Things have not run smoothly since and in Tokyo, he could only win joint bronze in the 100m alongside Germany’s Johannes Floors as Felix Streng took gold, although he did take silver in the universal relay.

There was disappointment at last year’s World Championships in Paris where he could only finish fifth as Italian newcomer Maxcel Amo Manu announced his arrival on the big stage.

Despite only being sixth fastest on paper in 2024 and now aged 31, Peacock is a man who revels in the big occasion and it would be foolish to rule him out of another medal challenge both in the individual event and the universal relay.

T64 100m: heats Sunday, 1 September, final Monday, 2 September; 4x100m universal relay: Friday, 6 September

Rachel Choong - Para-badminton

Choong had to watch from the sidelines as badminton made its Paralympic debut in Tokyo with her SH6 category for short stature athletes not part of the inaugural programme.

But her life changed in late 2021 when it was confirmed for Paris and three years and a lot of hard work later as a full-time athlete, the 30-year-old from Liverpool will become GB’s first female player at a Games.

Choong, who has a Chinese-Malaysian background, has been competing internationally since 2008 and made her World Championship debut in 2013, winning gold in the women’s singles and mixed doubles. She has gone on to regularly accrue major championship singles and doubles medals since then.

The chance to become a full-time athlete and train for a Paralympics was an opportunity she says she had to grab with both hands and she will chase medals on two fronts in Paris as GB seek a first gold in the sport.

As well as the singles, where she is world number three, she has a strong chance in the mixed doubles where her and partner Jack Shephard are the top pair in the world and have won world bronze and European over the past couple of years.

A self-confessed foodie, Choong spent many childhood hours in her grandparents’ Chinese and Asian Supermarket and also worked there as a young adult.

Women’s SH6 singles and SH6 mixed doubles: Thursday, 29 August-Monday, 2 September

Dan Powell - Para-judo

Powell is following in a family tradition when he takes to the judo mat in Paris.

The 33-year-old from Liverpool, who was born with a visual impairment, was just a child when his father Terry, who is also visually impaired, took part in the 1988 Games in Seoul and the 1996 Games in Atlanta, winning bronze in both.

He made his Paralympic debut at London 2012 but both he and his brother Marc missed out on medals.

In 2018 he shot to fame when he appeared on the ITV show Ninja Warrior UK, becoming the first person with a visual impairment to take part – he said that taking part was scarier than competing in London.

After finishing seventh in Tokyo, he took up rowing, impressing there too, but the lure of judo proved too strong and he made the decision to concentrate his efforts on it again.

The decision has been vindicated with silver in his J1 -90kg event at the 2022 World Championships in Baku followed by silver in the 2023 European Championships in Rotterdam and he goes to Paris ranked third in the world.

Powell is also passionate about giving back to the sport and set up the GNR8 Academy in Leicester – a community impact project which helps to support the local people, break down the barriers to physical exercise and find ways to integrate everyone into the community. He was rewarded earlier this year with the Social Impact Award at the PLx Awards hosted by UK Sport.

Men’s -90kg J1: Saturday, 7 September