11 British Paralympians to look out for – from Hannah Cockroft to Kadeena Cox and Alfie Hewett

Hannah is no stranger to the top step of the podium and won two gold medals at the last Paralympics, both in the 100m and 800m T34. At the last event, Hannah even broke her own world record time in the 100m event, finishing in a sensational 16.39 seconds.

Over the course of her career, Hannah has won seven Paralympic medals and 16 world titles, and she will be aiming to continue that momentum in her events this year.

Kadeena is another double gold athlete from the last Paralympics who will be hoping to both defend her titles and add to her medal tally. Although she won’t be competing in the sprinting, Kadeena also brought home a gold medal at the 2016 Paralympic Games at Rio.

Just like Hannah, at Kadeena’s last Paralympic appearance she smashed the world record time to grab her title. The star will be competing on the first day of the Games.

Hollie made history at the 2008 Paralympic Games when she made her debut in the F46 Javelin event aged just 14, making her the youngest-ever Paralympian. The teenager took home gold in 2016, but had to settle for bronze at the last Paralympics.

Hollie has been smashing it on the world stage and secured her sixth straight world title earlier in the year. The 30-year-old will no doubt be aiming to taste gold once again this time around.

Although Rachel will be making her Paralympic debut in badminton this year, the 30-year-old is already a certified sports legend, having secured 20 titles, both World and European, during her career. 

Rachel will be aiming to add Paralympic glory to her successes, and aiming to better her 2023 European Para Championships performance which saw her clinch gold with mixed doubles partner Jack Shephard alongside a silver medal in the women’s singles tournament.

Although he has never clinched a gold medal at the Paralympic Games, Alfie goes into this year’s tournament ranked as No.1 in the world for wheelchair tennis. The star won his first Wimbledon single’s title this year and has won three times at the French Open, four times at the US Open and once at the Australian Open.

On top of that, Alfie has won six Wimbledon double’s titles, and is a five-time doubles champion at the US Open, French Open and Australian Open. 

David lives and breathes the Paralympics, having been competing for Team GB since 2008 in the boccia event, which is similar to bowls. His long career has seen him win three Paralympic gold medals alongside 11 other titles.

Of course, the Paralympic star is also famous for his devotion to the team, having dyed his hair the colours of Team GB!

Maisie Summers-Newton made a strong Paralympic debut at the last event, securing herself two gold medals in the swimming. The star has not rested and overall has won a further ten titles, including a gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Despite being just 13, Iona is making waves in the swimming categories and won two European titles earlier this year. The swimming star will be making her Paralympic debut and is aiming for gold in three different events.

Inspired to start sprinting by the legendary Usain Bolt, Thomas will be hoping to defend his Paralympic title after he clinched gold at the T38 100m event at the last Games. He was just pipped to the European title this year, so we expect he’ll be coming back strong!

Ellie is yet to taste Paralympic glory, scoring a silver in the 50m backstroke on her debut at the last event. However, the star has been breaking records since her competitive debut in 2017, smashing the British record in 2017 that had stood for 25 years and breaking the world record in 2019.

Piers made history at the last Paralympics, becoming Team GB’s first Paralympic champion in the fencing since 1988. Alongside this, Piers is a double world champion fencer and has won gold seven times at the European championships.