Nikita Howarth

Last updated

Nikita Howarth
Nikita Howarth (cropped).jpg
Howarth in 2017
Personal information
Full nameNikita Stevie Howarth
Born (1998-12-24) 24 December 1998 (age 24)
Hamilton, New Zealand
Sport
Sport Swimming
Classifications S7, SB8, SM7
ClubTe Awamutu Swim Club
CoachSteve Hay
Medal record
Women's para swimming
Representing Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand
Paralympic Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2016 Rio de Janeiro 200m medley SM7
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2016 Rio de Janeiro 50m butterfly S7
World Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2013 Montreal 200m medley SM7
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2015 Glasgow 200m medley SM7
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2015 Glasgow 50m butterfly S7
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2022 Madeira 100m breaststroke SB7
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2013 Montreal 50m butterfly S7

Nikita Stevie Howarth MNZM (born 24 December 1998) is a New Zealand para-cyclist and para-swimmer. She became New Zealand's youngest ever Paralympian after being selected for the 2012 Summer Paralympics, aged 13 years 8 months. She again represented New Zealand at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, [1] where she won the gold medal in the women's 200 metre individual medley SM7 [2] and the bronze medal in the women's 50 metre butterfly S7. [3]

Contents

Howarth was born in Hamilton, and resides in nearby Cambridge. She has a congenital bilateral arm deficiency, with no right hand and her left arm ending below the elbow. [4] She attended Cambridge High School. [5]

Howarth started swimming at age "three or four" and started swimming competitively at age seven. At age eight, she was inspired to compete at the Paralympics and win a gold medal after 2004 Olympic cycling gold medallist Sarah Ulmer visited Howarth's school. [6] She is classified S7 for freestyle, backstroke and butterfly, SB8 for breaststroke, and SM7 for individual medley. [7]

Howarth was selected to represent New Zealand at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. She competed in three events: the 50 m butterfly S7, the 100 m breaststroke SB8 and the 200 m individual medley SM7, qualifying for the finals in the latter event and finishing in sixth place. In 2013, Howarth won two medals at the IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal: a gold medal in the 200 m individual medley SM7 and a bronze medal in the 50 m butterfly S7. [4] [8] She was selected to represent New Zealand at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Competing above her classifications, she came fifth (out of six) in the 100 m freestyle S8 and seventh (out of seven) in the 100 m breaststroke SB9.

At the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow, Howarth won two gold medals in the 50 m butterfly S7 and the 200 m individual medley SM7, [9] qualifying her for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. She was officially confirmed to represent New Zealand at the Paralympics on 5 May 2016. [1]

While competing at the International German Championships in Berlin on 9 June 2016, Howarth set a new world record in the women's 100 m butterfly S7 with a time of 1:18.65, taking 1.49 seconds off the previous record set by American Mallory Weggemann in 2009. [10]

Howarth was a finalist for Disabled Sportsperson of the Year at the 2015 Halberg Awards. [11] She was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2017 New Year Honours, for her services to swimming. [12]

Following the 2016 Paralympic Games, Howarth switched her focus from para-swimming to para-cycling, and competed at the 2018 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships under the C4 classification. [13]

In December 2018, she set a new world record in the C4 flying 200 m time trial event at the Southland Track Cycling Championships in Invercargill, New Zealand. [14]

Personal bests

Swimming

EventTimeDateLocationNotes
50 m freestyle (S7)
100 m freestyle (S7)
50 m backstroke (S7)
100 m backstroke (S7)
50 m breaststroke (SB8)43.791 September 2012London, EnglandAR
100 m breaststroke (SB8)1:28.779 July 2015Glasgow, ScotlandAR
50 m butterfly (S7)
100 m butterfly (S7)1:18.659 June 2016Berlin, GermanyWR
200 m individual medley (SM7)

Cycling

EventTimeDateLocationNotes
Flying 200 m time trial (C4)12.9501 December 2018Invercargill, New ZealandWR

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Cowdrey</span> Australian swimmer and politician

Matthew John Cowdrey is an Australian politician and Paralympic swimmer. He presently holds numerous world records. He has a congenital amputation of his left arm; it stops just below the elbow. Cowdrey competed at the 2004 Paralympic Games, 2006 Commonwealth Games, 2008 Paralympic Games, 2010 Commonwealth Games, and the 2012 Paralympic Games. After the 2012 London Games, he is the most successful Australian Paralympian, having won thirteen Paralympic gold medals and twenty three Paralympic medals in total. On 10 February 2015, Cowdrey announced his retirement from swimming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessica Long</span> Russian-American Paralympic swimmer

Jessica Tatiana Long is a Russian-American Paralympic swimmer from Baltimore, Maryland, who competes in the S8, SB7 and SM8 category events. She has held many world records and competed at five Paralympic Games, winning 29 medals. She has also won over 50 world championship medals.

Stephanie Slater, is a British Paralympic swimmer competing in S8 classification events. Slater began her sporting career as an able bodied athlete, but after suffering nerve damage to her left arm she switched to parasport. In 2013, she qualified for the Swimming World Championships in Montreal.

Theresa Goh Rui SiBBM is a Singaporean swimmer and Paralympic medalist, with a bronze at the SB4 100m breaststroke at the 2016 Summer Paralympics. She holds the world records for the SB4 50 metres and 200 metres breaststroke events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sophie Pascoe</span> New Zealand Paralympic swimmer

Dame Sophie Frances Pascoe is a New Zealand para-swimmer. She has represented New Zealand at four Summer Paralympic Games from 2008, winning a total of eleven gold medals, seven silver medals and one bronze medal, making her New Zealand's most successful Paralympian. She has also represented New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games.

Sascha Kindred is a British swimmer who has competed in six Summer Paralympic Games, winning thirteen medals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Storey</span> British cyclist

Dame Sarah Joanne Storey, is a British Paralympic athlete in cycling and swimming, and a multiple gold medalist in the Paralympic Games, and six times British (able-bodied) national track champion. Her total of 28 Paralympic medals including 17 gold medals makes her the most successful and most decorated British Paralympian of all time as well as one of the most decorated Paralympic athletes of all time. She has the unique distinction of winning five gold medals in Paralympics before turning 19.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Levy</span> Australian Paralympic swimmer

Matthew John Levy, is a retired Australian Paralympic swimmer. At five Paralympic Games from 2004 to 2020, he has won three gold, one silver and six bronze medals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prue Watt</span> Australian Paralympic swimmer

Prue Watt, is a Paralympic swimming gold medalist from Australia. She has represented Australia at the four Paralympics from 2004 to 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Zealand at the 2012 Summer Paralympics</span> Sporting event delegation

New Zealand competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September 2012. The country won 17 medals in total, including six gold medals, and finished twenty-first on the medals table.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teigan Van Roosmalen</span> Australian Paralympic swimmer (born 1991)

Teigan Van Roosmalen is an Australian Paralympic S13 swimmer. She has Usher Syndrome type 1 legally blind and Profoundly deaf. She had a swimming scholarship from the Australian Institute of Sport 2009-2012. Her events are the 100 m breaststroke, 200 m individual medley, 50 m and 100 m freestyle. She competed at the 2011 Para Pan Pacific Championships in Edmonton, where she won a gold medal in the S13 400 freestyle event. She competed at the 2008 Summer and 2012 Summer Paralympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Fisher (swimmer)</span> New Zealand Paralympic swimmer

Mary Elizabeth Fisher is a New Zealand para swimmer. She represented New Zealand at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London and the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, combined winning two gold medals, two silver medals and a bronze medal.

Alexander "Alec" Robert Elliot is a Canadian competitive Paralympic swimmer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesse Aungles</span> Australian Paralympic swimmer

Jesse Aungles is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He represented Australia at the 2016 Summer Paralympics and the 2020 Summer Paralympics

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiffany Thomas Kane</span> Australian Paralympic swimmer

Tiffany Thomas Kane, is a retired Australian Paralympic swimmer. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, winning a gold and three bronze medals, and at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, winning a further two bronze medals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timothy Disken</span> Australian Paralympic swimmer

Timothy Malcolm (Disko) Disken, is an Australian paralympic swimmer. He represented Australia at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships and won bronze in the men's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, he won a gold medal in the men's 100m freestyle S9, a silver medal in the men's S9 50m freestyle and a bronze medal in the men's 200m individual medley SM9. He also competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Zealand at the 2016 Summer Paralympics</span> Sporting event delegation

New Zealand competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. It was the nation's thirteenth appearance at the Summer Paralympics, having made its debut in 1968 and appeared in every edition since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oksana Khrul</span> Ukrainian Paralympic swimmer

Oksana Khrul is a Ukrainian para-swimmer, competing in S6, SM6 and SB7 categories.

Nicole Turner, of Portarlington, Laois, is an Irish para-swimmer, competing mainly in the S6, short stature category.

References

  1. 1 2 "Sophie Pascoe and Mary Fisher head powerful New Zealand swimming team for Paralympics". Stuff.co.nz. 5 May 2016. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  2. ↑ "Results -- Women's 200 metre individual medley SM7 final" (PDF). Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 September 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  3. ↑ "Results -- Women's 50 metre butterfly S7 final" (PDF). Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 September 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  4. 1 2 "Howarth claims first world title". Waikato Times. 20 August 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  5. ↑ Goile, Aaron (29 August 2013). "Nikita Howarth returns with Rio in her mind". Waikato Times (via Stuff.co.nz). Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  6. ↑ Goile, Aaron (28 December 2013). "Everything is going swimmingly for Nikita". Waikato Times. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  7. ↑ "Classification Master List, Summer Season 2016 – New Zealand". IPC Swimming. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  8. ↑ "Swimming: Three more golds for NZ team". NZ Herald. 19 August 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  9. ↑ "Sophie Pascoe, Nikita Howarth claim gold at IPC Swimming World Championships". Stuff.co.nz. 18 July 2015. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  10. ↑ "New Zealand Paralympics swimmer Nikita Howarth sets world record at German Open". Stuff.co.nz. 10 June 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  11. ↑ "Finalists announced for Halberg Awards". The New Zealand Herald. 7 January 2016. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  12. ↑ "New Year Honours List 2017". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  13. ↑ "Paralympic champion Nikita Howarth swaps swimsuit for bike". Stuff.co.nz. 23 February 2018. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  14. ↑ "Paralympian Nikita Howarth breaks world record at Southland track cycling champs". Stuff.co.nz. 2 December 2018. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.