By Veronica Buccino
One month ago, on Sunday 8th September, the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games came to a close. Scotland was represented by 21 Scots in ParalympicsGB’s team. The Scots had an impressive medal haul, winning a total of 20 medals in the French capital: 11 golds, 8 silvers, and 1 bronze.
Sammi Kinghorn (Para athletics) had a very memorable Games, contributing five medals (four individual) to the overall tally:
Gold – Women’s 100m T53 – Time of 15.64 (PR) – Day 7
Silver – Women’s 800m T53 – Time of 1:42.96 – Day 4
Silver – Women’s 1500m T54 – Time of 3:16.01 – Day 5
Silver – Women’s 400m T53 – Time of 53.45 – Day 8
Silver – 4x100m Universal Relay – Time of 46.01 (ER, AR), with Zach Shaw, Jonnie Peacock, and Ali Smith – Day 9
With her gold in the 100m, the 28-year-old set an incredible new Paralympic record time of 15.64 seconds.
Following the end of the Games, Sammi said: “It’s been the most amazing week I could have ever dreamt of. I really hoped that I could come close. The girl that I was racing, Catherine Debrunner, is incredibly strong and I knew it would be very hard. She was a tenth faster than me going throughout the year. I’m absolutely buzzing that I was able to take the win”.
She surprised herself by finding the podium in the 1500m T54, considering she had never competed in that event at a world championship or at the Paralympic Games.
She said: “I decided to throw myself in there and see what happens. I really kind of thought that I’d probably come fourth, could maybe squeeze a bronze if everything goes right. So to win a silver in that, I was just absolutely buzzing. I feel like I just kind of rode that feeling into the 100m”.
Sammi will never forget the moment when she started her first race in the Stade-de-France: “The whole stadium just erupted, and it was so incredibly loud, it was amazing. We went in for our 4×4 relay, and there were 70,000 people in that stadium all screaming”.
Coping with external pressures and battling the Scottish climate, it is fair to say that the Scot has ample of resilience. “I love training. I love that feeling on my body. I think I’m very lucky that is something that I really love. And I also get very nervous before races and I tell myself that, when they say, ‘on your marks’, I want to roll up with confidence, knowing that I’ve done everything I can to be here. And if I don’t get up and train, then I don’t deserve to be there”.
After winning one bronze medal at the previous Games (Tokyo 2020), Sammi has shown that she is getting stronger and stronger. It will be exciting to see what lies ahead for the Para athlete in the imminent future.
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