Sarah's Profile

Born without a functioning left hand, Dame Sarah Storey’s first sport was swimming. She represented Great Britain at four Paralympic Games, starting in Barcelona in 1992 at the age of 14. During her swimming career she won five Paralympic gold medals, eight silvers and three bronzes, as well as winning five world titles and 18 European championships in the pool This summer, she aims to medal at her ninth Paralympics, in Paris.

Forced out of the pool for much of 2005 due to ear infections, Storey took to two wheels to maintain her fitness and, by the end of the year, had broken the world record for the para-cycling 3km individual pursuit.

Storey’s first taste of international competition on the bike offered a hint of the massive success to come as she won triple gold at the Para-cycling European Championships in 2005, in the C5 individual pursuit and 500m time trial on the track, as well as in the road race.

With the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games looming, Storey was emerging as a strong medal contender and her first world title in the individual pursuit at the 2006 UCI Para-Cycling World Championships, simply enhanced her reputation.

At those Paralympics, her fifth, Storey won gold in the individual pursuit, in a time that would have placed her in the top eight of the Olympic finals, as well as the road time trial.

Not surprisingly, Storey was becoming the dominant force in women’s para-cycling, picking up four more world titles in 2009 and enjoying a successful 2010 season in which she again won two road para-cycling golds while earning selection for Team England at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Storey placed sixth in the individual pursuit, the highest placing by an English rider and just ahead of future Olympic champion Laura Trott. She became the first para-cyclist to compete for England at the Commonwealth Games, only the second para-athlete ever to do so.

That form catapulted Storey to win gold at the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Manchester in a time that was just 0.188 off the world record. Later that year, she also won gold in the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Cali, Colombia.

Six more road and track para-cycling world titles came her way in 2011 and 2012, leading to the London 2012 Paralympic Games in which Storey was little short of magnificent, winning gold in all four of her events: the 500m time-trial, individual pursuit, road race and time-trial. For good measure, her first win – the first British gold of the Paralympics – saw her set a world record in the pursuit. She was named in the New Year honours list in 2013 for the third time and became a Dame. That year, Storey gave birth to her first child, a daughter, Louisa.

Storey made an attempt on the world hour record in February 2015, setting a distance of 45.502 km, 563m short of the record as it stood, though Storey did set a new world record in the C5 Paralympic cycling class as well as a new British record.

At Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games in 2016, Storey became Britain's most successful female Paralympian of all time when she won the individual pursuit. The following year, she gave birth to her son Charlie.

More gold medals and world titles followed in subsequent years on both the road and the track, and at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Storey was the first athlete to win gold for Great Britain, defending her Paralympic title in the individual pursuit, following an incredible performance in the qualifying heat in which she shattered her own world record by four seconds. It was her 10th Paralympic cycling gold, and a record-breaking 15th gold medal in her entire Paralympic career.

2023 saw Storey compete in a home world championships on the road, picking up her 17th and 18th road titles in Dumfries and Galloway as she won both the time-trial and the road race.

This summer in Paris, at the age of 46, Storey will compete in her ninth Paralympic Games, her fifth on the bike, with the aim of achieving her 16th title and adding to her own already substantial reputation as a true legend of the sport.

If you have been inspired to get on a bike...

Get Involved