Nikita Howarth

Nikita Stevie Howarth (born 24 December 1998) is a New Zealand 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, where she won the gold medal in the women's 200 metre individual medley SM7 and the bronze medal in the women's 50 metre butterfly S7.

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• Meet our paralympians nikita howarth
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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. She attended Cambridge High School.

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. She is classified S7 for freestyle, backstroke and butterfly, SB8 for breaststroke, and SM7 for individual medley.

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. 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, 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.

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.

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