 Kinghorn at the 2012 London Mini Marathon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Samantha May Kinghorn | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 6 January 1996 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Education | Earlston High School [1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Wheelchair racing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability | Paralysed below the waist | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability class | T53 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Red Star | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coached by | Ian Mirfin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Samantha May Kinghorn MBE (born 6 January 1996) is a Scottish World Champion wheelchair racer [2] and TV presenter.
In December 2010 Kinghorn was crushed by snow and ice which fell from the roof at the family farm breaking her back. She had emergency surgery and spent five months in hospital. [3] [4] The injury to her spine left her paralysed from the waist down. [5] Since then she uses a wheelchair for mobility. While in the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southern General Hospital her physiotherapist took her to Stoke Mandeville Stadium to take part in the WheelPower Inter Spinal Games where she was able to try out a variety of wheelchair sports, leading to her taking up wheelchair racing. [1] She said:
I thought I’d be in a bed forever. So, to then get into a wheelchair was amazing. I know it sounds strange, but I was so happy. “Then to find I could actually compete in sport in my wheelchair has just been incredible. Sport has helped me hugely, helped me to really accept it . [4]
Kinghorn is part of the Glasgow disability sports club Red Star, [5] where she is coached by Ian Mirfin MBE (new years honours list 2015/16). She is classified as a T53 para-athlete. [2] Sammi is the fastest ever female British wheelchair racer regardless of classification over 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m.
Kinghorn's first race was the 2012 London Mini Marathon, where she came second. [4] Since then she has won many medals in domestic competitions [2] and set Scottish records in the 100m and 200m. [4] In 2013 Kinghorn was one of the first competitors to be named in the Scotland squad for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. She was chosen to be an athlete ambassador for Harper Macleod and a short promotional film [6] was made of her preparations for the Games. [7] In the buildup to the Games, Kinghorn was named Glasgow's Disabled Athlete of the Year. At the Commonwealth Games she took part in the T54 1500m, and after qualifying third in her heat, she placed fifth in the final. [8]
Kinghorn represented Team GB at the 2014 IPC European Championships in Swansea where she won Britain's first gold medal in the T53 Women's 400m [9] and went on to win further golds over 100m and 800m. [10]
Kinghorn competed for Team GB at 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. She placed 5th and 6th in the 100m and 400m T53 events but was disqualified in the 400m [11]
Kinghorn achieved a sprint double at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in the winning the 100m and 200m. [12]
In 2017 she will debut over the marathon distance in an attempt to qualify for the 2018 Commonwealth Games [13]
At the end of June 2021 she was in Manchester for the British Athletic Championships where she was second in a mixed classification 400m wheelchair race behind Hannah Cockroft and with Mel Woods third. [14]
Kinghorn among nine Scottish athletes who were chosen to compete at the postponed 2020 Summer Paralympics. Most were announced in July 2021. The others were Mel Woods, Libby Clegg, Jo Butterfield, Maria Lyle, Owen Miller, Derek Rae, Stef Reid and Ben Rowlings. [15]
Kinghorn was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to disability sport. [16]
In 2023, Kinghorn began her career in television by appearing as a presenter on BBC's Countryfile. [17] [18] She had previously featured in an episode of BBC's The One Show. [19]
Elizabeth 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.
Tatyana McFadden is an American Paralympic athlete of Russian descent competing in the category T54. McFadden has won twenty Paralympic medals in multiple Summer Paralympic Games.
Angela Ballard is an Australian Paralympic athlete who competes in T53 wheelchair sprint events. She became a paraplegic at age 7 due to a car accident.
Hannah Lucy Cockroft is a British wheelchair racer specialising in sprint distances in the T34 classification. She holds the world records for the 100 metres, 200 metres, 400 metres, 800 metres and 1500 metres in her classification and the Paralympic records at 100 metres, 200 metres, 400 metres and 800 metres. Competing for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, she won two gold medals. She won three further gold medals at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Bethany "Bethy" Woodward is a former British Paralympic athlete who competed in sprint events in T37 events. She competed at the highest level of her sport, representing England at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and Great Britain in the IPC Athletic World Championships and the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
Bethany Charlotte Firth, is a Northern Irish Paralympic swimmer. Since 2014 she has competed for Great Britain; previously, Firth had represented Ireland. A six time Paralympic gold medalist, she has won gold in her specialist event - the 100 metres backstroke - for both Ireland at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and Great Britain at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Paralympics. These were in addition to the Mixed 4 x 100 metres freestyle relay S14 at the 2020 Games, and 200 metres medley and 200 metres freestyle for Great Britain at the 2016 Games, where she was the nation's most successful Paralympian with three golds and a silver medal. She competes in the S14 classification for athletes with an intellectual impairment.
Charlotte Sarah Henshaw is a British Paralympic full-time athlete across multiple disciplines. Originally a swimmer, she changed to canoeing from 2017, becoming the reigning World champion in the KL2 (five-time) and VL3 (three-time) 200m events. In September 2021, at the delayed 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, she became a Paralympic champion at her fourth games, winning the Women's KL2 event.
Brent Lakatos is a Canadian wheelchair racer in the T53 classification. Lakatos has represented Canada at three Summer Paralympics, and at the 2012 Games he won three silver medals in the sprint and mid-distance events. In 2013 Lakatos reached the pinnacle of his sport when he collected four gold medals at the IPC Athletics World Championships and became world champion at his classification in the 100m, 200m and 400m events.
Caroline Baird MBE is a former athlete who represented Great Britain at three Paralympic Games. During her career she was recognised as the greatest sprinter in her class, winning four Paralympic gold medals along with two World Championships titles.
Meggan Dawson-Farrell is a Scottish wheelchair racer.
Tully Alicia Jacqueline Kearney is a British Paralympic swimmer. Kearney competes in the S5 classification for swimmers with physical disabilities. She won Gold and Silver at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games setting World records in both the 50 m and 100 m freestyle. She has also won medals in three IPC Swimming World Championships winning Bronze in the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships, setting a British record; four Golds, a Silver and a Bronze in the 2015 World Championships setting three European records and becoming GB's highest medal earner of the Championships, and three Golds at the World Para Swimming Championships in 2019, setting three British records and two Championship records. In addition, she won Gold and Bronze at the World Para Swimming European Championships in 2018. Kearney is a multiple British, European and World record holder.
Maria Lyle is a para-athlete from Scotland competing 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.
Georgina Hermitage, is a British former parasport athlete competing in T37 sprint events. In 2015, she qualified for the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships in Doha, selected for the T37 100m and 200m. She took the gold in the 400m sprint, setting a new world record.
Samuel Harrison Carter is a Paralympic athlete, who competes in 100m, 200m, 400m T54 events. He has represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Hamide Kurt Doğangün is a Turkish Paralympian athlete competing in the T53 disability class sprint events of 100m and 400m, T52/T53 class middle-distance event of 800m as well as T53/T54 class 4 × 400 m relay event.
Zübeyde Süpürgeci is a Turkish Paralympian athlete competing in the T54 disability class events of 100m, 400m and 800m as well as T53/T54 class 4 × 400 m relay event.
Maisie Summers-Newton, PLY is a British Paralympic swimmer, competing in S6 disability events. In August 2018, she took gold in the IPC Swimming European Championships SM6 200m individual medley and set a new world record at 2:59.60. She also holds the S6 100m Breaststroke world record in 1:33.92, which she achieved in May 2018 at the British Para-Swimming International Meet. She won two gold medals for Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Melanie Woods is a Scottish teacher and wheelchair racer who competed at the postponed 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo. She was fifth in the 800m (T54).
