Team GB athletes to watch out for at the 2020 Paralympics
Great Britain won 64 gold medals at Rio 2016.
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ParalympicsGB travel to the delayed Tokyo Games seeking to emulate the fine form which saw the team finish second in the overall medal table at Rio 2016.
Here, the PA news agency picks out 10 of Britain’s best hopes for gold.
Will Bayley
Fully fit following a serious knee injury suffered rehearsing for Strictly Come Dancing in 2019, 33-year-old Bayley believes he is playing the best table tennis of his career. He heads to Tokyo with high hopes of defending the class seven title he won five years ago.
Amy Truesdale
Truesdale has been one of the leading para-taekwondo stars since winning the first of her two world titles in 2014. The sport will make its Paralympic debut this year and, despite her most recent title coming in 2017, the 32-year-old will start as one of the clear favourites in the women’s +58kg category.
Dame Sarah Storey
Storey is set for her eighth Games and in with a shot of surpassing Mike Kenny as Britain’s most-decorated Paralympian Successful defences of her C5 individual pursuit, C5 time trial and C4-5 road race titles will move her on to a remarkable 17 gold medals, one ahead of former swimmer Kenny.
Charlotte Henshaw
Two-time Paralympic swimmer Henshaw has taken the canoeing world by storm since switching sports after Rio. The rapid rise of the reigning KL2 world champion has seen her emerge as a major threat to wrestle Paralympic gold away from compatriot Emma Wiggs.
Hannah Cockroft
The wheelchair racing star has five golds from two previous Games and will compete in the T34 100m and 800m. ‘Hurricane Hannah’ underlined her credentials by lowering her own world records in the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Switzerland in May.
Richard Whitehead
Whitehead won T44 200 metres gold in London and Rio and shows no signs of slowing down at the age of 44. The irrepressible sprinter, who completed 40 marathons in 40 days in 2013, is back on the track in a bid to retain that title and has suggested his Paralympic odyssey may be extended to Paris 2024.
Sir Lee Pearson
Britain’s flagbearer in Brazil is seeking to add to his remarkable haul of 11 gold medals gained across five previous Paralympics. The 47-year-old equestrian great will compete on a homebred horse – nine-year-old gelding Breezer – for the first time at a Games.
Jonnie Peacock
A poster boy of Paralympic sport, the sprinter is bidding for a hat-trick of T64 100m titles following glory in London and Rio. The 28-year-old will represent the British team in that event for the first time since winning gold at the World Para Athletics Championships in 2017.
Amy Conroy
Conroy has been an integral part of the rise to prominence of the British women’s wheelchair basketball team, which narrowly lost out on a medal in Rio and took silver at the 2018 World Championships. Recent investment in her sport has boosted her team’s chances of going all the way.
David Smith
Reigning Paralympic and world champion boccia star Smith will be competing at his fourth Paralympics. The 32-year-old has won four medals from his previous three Games, including team gold at Beijing 2008 and individual gold five years ago in Brazil.