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| Nationality | British | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 24 June 1991 Ponthir, Wales | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Country |  Great Britain | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Cycling | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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James Ball (born 24 June 1991) is a Welsh Paralympic cyclist who competes in tandem races as an athlete with a visual impairment. [1] A multiple world champion across the tandem sprint events, Ball's latest title came in 2021, further cementing his partnership alongside Lewis Stewart where they won silver in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Welshman Ball started his sporting career as a swimmer, before moving to athletics. The visually-impaired athlete was in-line to earn selection in track and field for ParalympicsGB at London 2012, however suffered an injury which ended those aspirations.
On his journey back to full fitness, Ball took part in turbo testing arranged by British Cycling, and his potential on a bike was discovered.
Paired with pilot Craig McLean, Ball took a bronze medal away from his first world championships, in 2016. Paralympic selection – and fifth place in the kilo – followed, before a golden 2017 saw Ball and Matt Rotherham win a sprint double at the world championships in Los Angeles.
Further medals were gained – at both the world championships and the Commonwealth Games – in 2018 where he won Wales's first medal, a silver in the men's B&VI 1,000m time trial. [2]
Ball returned to the top step of the podium at the 2019 world championships, winning the kilo alongside Pete Mitchell.
In 2020 Ball teamed up with Stewart, and the partnership got off to a hugely promising start, winning sprint gold and kilo silver at the world championships in Milton.
In 2021 Ball expanded his collection landing the silver in the men's 1000m time trial at the Tokyo games, further cementing his partnership with Lewis Stewart where they narrowly missed out on the gold to fellow GB teammates Neil Fachie and Matt Rotherham.
Jason Paul Queally is an English track cyclist. He won a gold medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
Craig MacLean MBE is a Scottish track cyclist who represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, winning a silver medal in the Team Sprint at the 2000 Olympics. MacLean returned to the sport as a sighted guide in the Paralympics, piloting Neil Fachie to two gold medals in the 2011 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, and Anthony Kappes to a gold medal in the 2012 Paralympic Games. MacLean is only the second athlete, after Hungarian fencer Pál Szekeres, ever to win medals at both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Ellen Hunter is a Welsh competitive cyclist and tandem pilot for Aileen McGlynn at Paralympic events.
Aileen McGlynn is a Scottish paralympic tandem champion cyclist, tandem piloted until 2009 by Ellen Hunter but most regularly piloted by Helen Scott.
Kieran John Modra was an Australian Paralympic swimmer and tandem cyclist. He won five gold and five bronze medals at eight Paralympic Games from 1988 to 2016, along with two silver medals at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
Elizabeth Gemma Clegg, is a Scottish Paralympic sprinter and tandem track cyclist who has represented both Scotland and Great Britain at international events. She represented Great Britain in the T12 100m and 200m at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, winning a silver medal in the T12 100m race. She won Gold in Rio at the 2016 Paralympic Games in 100m T11 where she broke the world record and T11 200m, beating the previous Paralympic record in the process, thus making her a double Paralympic champion.
Anthony Edward Kappes MBE is an English road and track racing cyclist and Paralympian.
Jonathan Philip Norfolk is a Great Britain track cycling national sprint coach, and an ex international cyclist.
Lindy Hou, is an Australian tandem cyclist and triathlete from Hong Kong. Arriving in Australia with her family in 1974, she was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa in the mid-1980s and became legally blind in 1996. She has won six medals at the 2004 and 2008 Summer Paralympics.
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.
Neil Michael Fachie is a Scottish cyclist and former track athlete, competing in events for people with a visual impairment. Fachie has competed in two Paralympics, as a sprinter in the 2008 Games in Beijing and as a tandem cyclist in London 2012. In London he won the gold medal in the Men's individual 1 km time trial and silver in the individual sprint, both with Barney Storey as his sighted pilot. Outside of the Paralympic Games, Fachie is a nineteen-time world champion and 5 times Commonwealth Games champion, creating tandem partnerships with Barney Storey, Pete Mitchell, and Olympians Craig MacLean and Matt Rotherham.
Helen Sarah Scott, is an English sprint cyclist. As well as competing as part of the Great Britain team Scott is also an able-bodied tandem cyclist, who since 2011 has acted as pilot for Paralympian Aileen McGlynn, Sophie Thornhill and Alison Patrick.
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.
Rachel Sarah James is a Welsh racing cyclist specializing in track cycling.
Sophie Thornhill, is a visually impaired English former racing cyclist who competed in para-cycling tandem track events. She is a double world champion, with pilot Rachel James, and a double Commonwealth gold medallist, with pilot Helen Scott, in the tandem sprint and 1 km time trial events. In April 2014, she set world records in the tandem sprint and 1 km time trial, piloted by James. She retired from competition in 2020.
The 2014 British National Track Championships are a series of track cycling competitions held from 24–28 September 2014, at the Manchester Velodrome. They were organised and sanctioned by British Cycling, and were open to British cyclists.
Great Britain competed in the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan. Originally scheduled to take place between 21 August and 6 September 2020, the Games were postponed to 24 August to 5 September 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. British athletes have competed at all sixteen consecutive Summer Paralympics since 1960.
Matthew Rotherham is a British male track cyclist. Following a career as an elite abled bodied cyclist, he transferred to Paralympic track cycling as a sighted pilot in the visually impaired (B) classification. In 2021, he piloted Neil Fachie to Paralympic gold in the men's track time trial B classification. The pair are also Commonwealth Games champions in 2018, and five-time World champions in the discipline.
The men's time trial class B track cycling event at the 2024 Summer Paralympics took place on 1 September 2024 in the Vélodrome National, Paris. This class is for the cyclist who is blind or has visual impairments, they will then ride with tandem bicycles together with a sighted cyclist. There will be 11 pairs from 10 different nations competing.
