By Winning Students 100 Communications Consultant, Brian Welsh
Medals were won and memories were made at Paris 2024 Paralympics by the seven ParalympicsGB athletes who have been supported by Winning Students 100*.
The overall performance of ParalympicsGB earned richly deserved headlines: the team finished second overall with 124 medals to meet the target of 100-140, there was medal success in all but one sport, while eight more golds were won in Paris than Tokyo three years ago with 49 golds the second-highest total achieved since Seoul 1988.
The golds won in Paris included an incredible six by Winning Students 100 scholars and alumni, but achievements were not restricted to podium finishes, with personal bests and debut performances generating memories galore.
Following last month’s review of the Paris Olympics 2024, let’s take a look at the heights reached by the class of Paris Paralympics 2024.
In the pool
Twelve ParalympicsGB athletes won multiple golds and Stephen Clegg was among them, his first arriving on day three after he won the S12 100m backstroke event with a new world record of 59.02. With this win, Clegg, who has a visual impairment, won his first Paralympic gold after securing a silver and two bronze medals at Tokyo 2021.
Even more was to follow when Clegg edged the men’s S12 100m butterfly final on the final day of competition in the pool. Clegg, who is world record holder in the event, touched home in 57.49 seconds at the end of a fiercely contested race.
Clegg was edged into fourth place in both the S12 100m freestyle final (missing out on bronze by 0.02secs) and the 4x100m freestyle final relay.
Faye Rogers shone just as brightly with a stunning Paralympics debut, taking gold in the women’s S10 100m butterfly after overhauling team-mate Callie-Ann Warrington, the eventual silver medallist, in the final 50m.
Rogers’ heroics didn’t start and end there – she also recorded a personal best in the women’s S10 100m freestyle as well as fifth placed finishes in both the SM10 200m Individual Medley final and S10 400m freestyle final.
Toni Shaw, who trains with Rogers in Aberdeen, made her second Paralympics appearance and was under a quarter of a second off bronze in the SM9 200m Individual Medley thanks to a season’s best of 2:37.88 in a thrilling final.
Others highlights for Shaw included making it to the S9 400m freestyle final where she finished fifth in another very competitive race, as well as finishing eighth in the S9 100m freestyle final.
On the court
There was triumph on the tennis court for men’s wheelchair doubles powerhouse Gordon Reid and his partner Alfie Hewett as they secured their first Paralympics gold medal together to complete a career “grand slam”.
After the agony of losing finals in both Rio and Tokyo, Reid and Hewett defeated Japan’s Tokito Oda and Takuya Miki 6-2 6-1 in the decider at Roland Garros cementing their status as the dominant force in men’s wheelchair doubles.
Reid also surged to the quarter-finals of the men’s wheelchair singles before losing out to Gustavo Fernandez of Argentina in straight sets, the second a narrow tiebreak.
Another Paralympics debut was enjoyed by Kayleigh Haggo in boccia, who finished a very credible eighth in the Women’s Individual BC2 competition.
Haggo, who switched from frame-running to boccia to secure her place in Paris, defeated European Championship silver medallist Ana Correia of Portugal 6-2 to earn a place in the quarter-finals where she lost out to Gischa Zayana of Poland who would go on to earn a bronze medal. Another of Kayleigh’s earlier opponents, South Korea’s Jeong Soyeong, won silver.
On the water
Para canoe brought further ParalympicsGB success including two stunning gold medals for Charlotte Henshaw and silver for Hope Gordon.
Henshaw won the inaugural Women’s VL3 event ahead of team-mate Hope Gordon, who claimed a brilliant silver on what was her Paralympics summer games debut, having only taken up paracanoe five years ago.
Henshaw then secured her second gold of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games as she successfully defended her KL2 title in an epic contest, setting a Paralympic record in the process. Henshaw’s Paralympic appearance in Paris marks the fifth Games of her career, having competed at Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016 in Para swimming, before making the switch to paracanoe.
Congratulations!
Congratulations from everyone at Winning Students 100, sportscotland, Scottish Funding Council and all supporting universities and colleges to every scholar and alumni who competed so brilliantly at Paris Paralympics 2024.
*Two athletes, Faye Rogers and Toni Shaw, have been supported by Winning Students 100 while the other five athletes named in this article were supported by Winning Students, the previous rendition of the organisation.
Winning Students 100 scholars and alumni at Paris Paralympics 2024:
| Paris Paralympics 2024 | |||
| Name | Sport | Institution | Scholar / Alumni |
| Stephen Clegg | Para Swimming | University of Edinburgh | Alumni |
| Hope Gordon | Canoe | Edinburgh Napier University | Alumni |
| Kayleigh Haggo | Boccia | Ayrshire College | Alumni |
| Charlotte Henshaw | Canoe | University of Stirling | Alumni |
| Gordon Reid | Wheelchair Tennis | University of Stirling | Alumni |
| Faye Rogers | Para Swimming | University of Aberdeen | Scholar |
| Toni Shaw | Para Swimming | University of Aberdeen | Scholar |