Sport Wheelchair racing Name Samantha Kinghorn Role Racer | Club Red Star Siblings Christopher Kinghorn Coached by Ian Mirfin | |
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Born 6 January 1996 (age 28) ( 1996-01-06 ) Disability Paralysed below the waist Parents Neil Kinghorn, Elaine Kinghorn Profiles | ||
Young scot awards 2013 samantha kinghorn sport
Samantha Kinghorn (born 6 January 1996) is a Scottish World Champion wheelchair racer.
Contents
- Young scot awards 2013 samantha kinghorn sport
- Samantha Kinghorn Greatness Begins Behind the Scenes
- Personal history
- Athletics career
- References
Samantha Kinghorn: Greatness Begins Behind the Scenes
Personal history
In December 2010 Kinghorn was crushed by snow and ice breaking her back. She had emergency surgery and spent five months in hospital. The injury to her spine left her paralysed from the waist down. Since then she has had to use a wheelchair for mobility. While in the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southern General Hospital her physiotherapist took her to Stoke Mandeville to try out disability sports, leading to her taking up wheelchair racing. She said:
Athletics career
Kinghorn is part of the Glasgow disability sports club Red Star, where she is coached by Ian Mirfin MBE (new years honours list 2015/16). She is classified as a T53 para-athlete. 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. Since then she has won many medals in domestic competitions and set Scottish records in the 100m and 200m. 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 was made of her preparations for the Games. 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.
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 and went on to win further golds over 100m and 800m.
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
Kinghorn achieved a sprint double at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in the winning the 100m and 200m.
In 2017 she will debut over the marathon distance in an attempt to qualify for the 2018 Commonwealth Games