The Paris 2024 Paralympics are underway, with the Great Britain squad gunning for gold across 19 of the 22 sports on offer.
More than 4,000 athletes from 150 countries will go head-to-head, with Paralympics GB aiming to win between 100-140 medals.
So, who are the incredible women competing for Paralympics GB? Meet just a few of them here…
Hannah Cockcroft – Para-Athletics
Hannah Cockcroft is a Yorkshire-born wheelchair racer who has won seven Paralympics medals and 16 World Championship medals.
In Paris 2024, her fourth Games, she is competing in the T34 classification – the category for athletes who are impacted by their lower limbs.
Within the athletics community, she is known as ‘Hurricane Hannah’ and many are watching her eagerly to see if she can bring home another medal.
Rachel Choong – Badminton
If Rachel can secure a podium spot at Paris 2024, it will mean winning her first ever Paralympic medal.
Her sport of badminton was only added to the Paralympic roster in Tokyo 2020, but Rachel was not selected.
After winning the 2022 World Championship title, Rachel will be looking to bring home more gold medals in the women’s singles and mixed doubles competitions in Paris.
Iona Winnifrith – Swimming
This swimming sensation is only 13 years old, the youngest swimmer in the Paralympics GB team this year.
It’s no surprise that this is Iona’s first Paralympic Games – she was only 10 in Tokyo 2020 – but she is ambitious nonetheless, having already won two European titles already this year, in Breaststroke and Individual Medley.
Hollie Arnold – Para-Athletics
Grimsby-born javelin thrower Hollie Arnold has already won two Paralympics medals – Gold in Rio and Bronze in Tokyo – as well as seven World Championship titles.
Hollie competed in her first Games at just 14 years old, which at the time made her the youngest field athlete to ever compete at the Paralympics.
By 2018, Hollie had won all four major titles in that four-year Paralympic cycle – the first ever para javelin thrower to do so in history.
All eyes are on Hollie to see if she can defend her spot on the podium.
Funmi Oduwaiye – Para-Athletics
Funmi has only been practicing para-athletics for two years, competing in shotput and discus.
She was a keen basketball player and joined Cardiff Met Archers at just 11 years old. After knee surgery complications left her with a paralysed right leg, she decided to take up para-athletics.
Only one year after, she came fourth in her shotput category at the World Para Athletics Championships in Paris.
A year later, Funmi is back in Paris to see what she can achieve just two years into her para-athletics career.
Claire Taggart – Boccia
Northern Irish athlete Claire Taggart competes in Boccia, a precision ball sport similar to bowls. The game was originally designed for people with cerebral palsy but has been expanded to include athletes with motor skill disabilities.
Claire was the first GB athlete to compete in Boccia at a Paralympic Games in 2016, and while she didn’t win a medal, she will be looking to defend her 2022 World Championship title in Paris this summer.
