Paris 2024 Paralympics: Six Team GB stars to watch
A plethora of talent will be on display at Paris 2024 once more this summer as Paralympians take centre stage.
Of those athletes, 215 hail from Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The British Paralympians will be competing in 19 of the 22 sports on the programme, with Para cycling track, Para canoe and Para rowing featuring the largest delegations.
Fourteen teenagers will be in action, including 13-year-old Iona Winnifrith - the youngest member of the team - who is part of Britain’s large cohort of women in Para swimming.
Discover some of the British stars who will be vying for gold in the French capital.
Six Team GB stars to watch at the Paris 2024 Paralympics
Claire Taggart (Boccia)
Claire Taggart became the first boccia player from Northern Ireland to represent Great Britain at a Paralympic Games when she made her Paralympic debut at Rio 2016.
Paris will be her third Paralympics, having taken up the sport at the age of 16. She initially played wheelchair rugby, but then turned her attention to boccia.
Taggart will compete in the women’s individual BC2 and the mixed team BC1/BC2 event. She is coming to Paris 2024 having won a world title at the 2022 world championships.
British sprinter Thomas Young won the men's 100m T38 race in his Paralympic debut at Tokyo 2020.
Thomas Young (Para athletics)
Thomas Young stormed to the top of the Paralympic podium in his Games debut three years ago when he won the men's 100m T38 race. He will now try to defend that title at Paris 2024 and has recently shown good form, finishing second at the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan.
“I live by the quote that everyone is born a champion - it’s just about finding out what you are a champion at," the 24-year-old said. “I love sport and competing and I would encourage everyone to get into Para sport or able-bodied sport."
Rachel Choong, pictured here with the Duchess of Edinburgh, will make her Paralympic debut at Paris 2024.
Rachel Choong (Para badminton)
Rachel Choong comes into Paris 2024 as the world No.1 and one of the country's most decorated Para badminton players with 10 world titles and nine European titles. She is poised to make her Paralympic debut after missing Tokyo 2020 where her SH6 category was not included.
Paris 2024 will be the first time that the women's singles SH6 category is included in the programme.
“Missing out on Tokyo was devastating. I had half-expected it, but when the news came, I was in tears,” she told BBC Sport. “To be selected is a dream come true and it feels really nice to be the first female player.”
Choong is set to compete in the women’s singles and mixed doubles alongside fellow Briton Jack Shephard.
Matt Bush qualified for Tokyo 2020, but was unable to compete due to an ACL injury.
Matt Bush (Para taekwondo)
Matt Bush took up Para taekwondo in 2017. Two years later, he became the first British man to win a world title in the event.
While he was unable to carry that form into Tokyo 2020 after getting sidelined with an ACL injury, he is poised to fight for a Paralympic medal in Paris. He will compete in the K44 +80kg event.
Bush previously represented Great Britain in Para athletics but, as in Tokyo, missed out on Rio 2016 due to injury. Paris 2024 will be his Paralympic debut.
Sammi Kinghorn won two medals, a silver and a bronze, at Tokyo 2020.
Samantha Kinghorn (Para athletics)
Samantha 'Sammi' Kinghorn burst onto the scene in 2014 when she won three gold medals at the European championships.
She made her Paralympic debut at Rio 2016, but it would not be until Tokyo 2020 when she got her first Games podium. The Scotswoman claimed silver in the women's 400m T53 and bronze in the 100m T53.
Kinghorn will compete in four events in Paris – the 100m, 400m, and 800m in the T53 category, and the 1500m in the T54 category.
William Ellard is a world and European champion in Para swimming.
William Ellard (Para swimming)
Para swimmer William Ellard will be among the athletes making their Paralympic debut at Paris 2024.
The 18-year-old had a breakout 2023 year, taking silver in the men's 200m freestyle S14 at the world championships and helping Team GB to gold and silver in the relays.
Ellard is also in excellent form going into Paris 2024. He won gold in the 100m butterfly S14 and 200m freestyle S14 at the European championships earlier this year. He collected two more medals as well, a silver and bronze in the 100m backstroke and 200m individual medley, respectively.
He will be competing in all four of those events in Paris.