Personal information | |
---|---|
Nationality | United Kingdom |
Born | Chester, England | 13 December 1988
Height | 157 cm (5 ft 2 in) |
Sport | |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sport | Paralympic athletics |
Disability | Multiple sclerosis |
Disability class | T38 |
Event(s) | 100 metres, 400 metres, 4X100m Universal Relay |
Club | Guildford & Godalming Athletic Club |
Coached by | Benke Blomkvist |
Medal record |
Ali Smith (born 13 December 1988) is a British Paralympic athlete who competes in 100 metres, 400 metres, and 4x100m Universal Relay events. At the age of 25, Ali was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis after noticing she was having abnormal symptoms. In 2017, she picked up para-athletics after loving track and field as a child before her disability. [1]
Smith, a two-time Paralympian, was selected for both the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo and the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris. [2]
Smith's sporting career started in her teens, where she competed in professional show jumping. This profession took her from her hometown, Knutsford, to Surrey so she could pursue her dreams. When she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, it made it increasingly difficult to pursue this passion. [3]
After impressing in para-athletics events, she was soon invited to major events. She competed in the 60m at Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix in 2018. Later that year, she got her first Great Britain call up where Smith took the silver medal in the T38 400m event of the 2018 World Para Athletics European Championships in Berlin, Germany. [4]
She won the bronze medal in the 400m T38 event of the 2021 World Para Athletics European Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. [5] She came second in the 100 metres mixed class event at the 2021 British Athletics Championships. [6]
Smith was selected to compete at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. [7] [8] She was part of the Great Britain 4X100m Universal Relay which won a silver medal in Tokyo. She shared the podium with Libby Clegg, Jonnie Peacock, and Nathan Maguire. This topped off a successful Games where she finished 8th in the T38 100m and T38 400m.
Smith took momentum into the following year as she was part of the England team and the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. She agonisingly missed out on the podium by finished 4th in the T37/38 100m behind fellow British athlete Olivia Breen and Sophie Hahn. [9]
In 2023, Smith qualified for the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships after recording personal bests of 12.94s in the 100m at Lee Valley in London, and 62.31s in the 400m at Nuneaton. [10] After qualifying for the T38 100m final, she was unfortunately hospitalised after a severe multiple sclerosis relapse which brought her season to an end. [1]
She was able to bounce back the following year by being called up to represent Great Britain at the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan. She was nominated as co-captain alongside her teammate Zac Shaw. [11] She replicated her success at the 2020 Summer Paralympics by winning another silver medal in the 4 × 100 m Universal Relay in a star studded team alongside Hannah Cockroft Kevin Santos and Zac Shaw. [12]
Smith was selected in the 33 strong Para-athletics team for Great Britain at the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris, France, [13] competing in the T38 400m and the 4 × 100 m universal relay.
In the 400m she came in 6th place. In the universal relay, alongside Zac Shaw, Jonnie Peacock and Sammi Kinghorn, she won the silver medal behind China. [14]
Alongside her sport, she works as the finance manager for British Wheelchair Basketball. [15] She is also a trustee for Personal Best Foundation (founded by England Athletics ). [16]
Evan George O'Hanlon, is an Australian Paralympic athlete, who competes mainly in category T38 sprint events. He has won five gold medals at two Paralympic Games – 2008 Beijing and 2012 London. He also represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, winning a silver medal and a bronze medal respectively. In winning the bronze medal in the Men's 100m T38 at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai, O'Hanlon became Australia's most successful male athlete with a disability. His bronze medal took him to 12 medals in five world championships – one more than four-time Paralympian Neil Fuller.
Jonathan Peacock MBE is an English sprint runner. An amputee, Peacock won gold at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and 2016 Summer Paralympics, representing Great Britain in the T44 men's 100 metres event. He won a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Rosemary Little is an Australian Paralympic athlete. She won a bronze medal in wheelchair racing at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, and has also competed in handcycling. She competed at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, her third Games, where switched from wheelchair racing to shot put. She competed in the shot put and club throw at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Hannah Lucy Cockroft is a British wheelchair racer specialising in sprint distances in the T34 classification and TV presenter.
Torita Blake is an Indigenous Australian athlete. She represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in athletics and won a bronze medal at the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in athletics.
Olivia Breen is a Welsh Paralympian athlete, who competes for Wales and Great Britain mainly in T38 sprint and F38 long jump events. She qualified for the 2012 Summer Paralympics and was selected for the T38 100m and 200m sprint and was also part of the T35-38 women's relay team. She has also represented Wales at the 2014, 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games winning gold in the F38 Long Jump in 2018 and gold in the T37/38 100m in 2022.
Sophie Megan Hahn, is a parasport athlete from England competing mainly in T38 sprint events. In 2013, she qualified for the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships, selected for the T38 100m and 200m. She took the gold in the 100m sprint, setting a new world record.
Samantha "Sammi" May Kinghorn is a British World Champion wheelchair racer and TV presenter. At the 2024 paralympics she won a gold medal.
Ella Azura Pardy is an Australian Paralympic athlete who competes in the T38 100m, 200m and long jump. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in athletics where she won a bronze medal and the 2020 Toykor Paralympics and the 2024 Paris Paralympics
Tully Alicia Jacqueline Kearney is a British Paralympic swimmer. Kearney currently competes in the S5/SB4/SM5 classification for swimmers with physical disabilities. She won gold and silver at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and followed this up at the Paris 2024 Games with two further gold medals, including retaining her 100 m freestyle S5 title. Since first competing at the World Para Swimming Championships in 2013 she has won thirteen World Championship medals, ten of which are gold. Kearney is a multiple British, European and World record holder.
Maria Lyle is a retired para-athlete from Scotland who competed mainly in T35 sprint events. At the age of 14 she set a world record in the 200m sprint, a record she has broken on several occasions. In 2014, she qualified for the IPC Athletics European Championships in Swansea and won gold in both the 100m and 200m T35.
Kadeena Cox is a parasport athlete competing in T38 para-athletics sprint events and C4 para-cycling and British television presenter. She was part of the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships and the 2016 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, in which she won world titles in the T37 100m and C4 500m time trial respectively.
Zac Shaw is a British Paralympic visually impaired sprinter who competes in the T12 classification. At the age of nine he became afflicted with stargardt disease. He made his first Great Britain squad for the IPC Athletics World Championships in 2015. Shaw made the Great Britain squad for the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris after just missing out on both the 2016 Summer Paralympics and 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Karé Adenegan is a British wheelchair athlete specialising in sprint distances in the T34 classification. She was classified as a disability athlete in 2013.
Erin Cleaver is an Australian Paralympic athlete with cerebral palsy. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in athletics.
Laviai Nielsen is a British sprinter specialising in the 400 metres.
Rhiannon Clarke is an Australian para-athletics competitor who specialises in sprint events. She won two bronze medals at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships. She represented Australia at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Toni Stephanie Shaw is a British Paralympic swimmer. In 2019 she set the world record time for the S9 200m butterfly, and was also part of the team that set a new world record for the 4 × 100 m medley relay. At the 2020 Summer Paralympics, she won a bronze medal in the women's 400 metre freestyle S9 event and later went on to win gold at the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships, becoming the World Champion. She is a three-time World Champion and two-time European Champion.
Thomas Robert Young is a British Paralympic athlete who competes in sprinting events at international events, he is a Paralympic Games gold medallist, three-time European champion and a two-time World silver medalist.
Nathan Maguire is a British wheelchair racer. He won multiple medals at both the 2018 and 2021 World Para Athletics European Championships, and also won the 400 metres mixed class race at multiple British Athletics Championships. Maguire competed in the 4 × 400 metres relay T53/T54 at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, and competed in the 400 metres T54, 800 metres T54 and mixed 4 × 100 metres relay events at the delayed 2020 Summer Paralympics. He was part of the British team that won a silver medal in the 2020 Paralympic mixed 4 × 100 metres relay. He also competed for England at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and won the 1500 metres T54 event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.