The talented para athlete, Maddie Down, is riding high after being crowned British indoor champion in the 60m T38 category and receiving a nomination for the Rising Star award at the Variety Disability Sports Awards

Maddie Down has had a busy few years. She made her Paralympic debut in Paris in 2024 after winning both the 100m T38 category and the long jump at the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2023. Since then, she’s won a bronze medal at the senior Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and was crowned British indoor champion in the 60m T38, pipping one of her heroes and fellow Brit, Sophie Hahn on the line. She also took her A-Levels in the summer alongside an intense training and competition schedule and is now studying Social Policy and Criminology at the University of Birmingham. Phew!

SENIOR STAGE

Maddie takes it all in her stride. She’s trained at Halesowen since she was 14 and says she was “good but not amazing” when she first started. She was put on the senior stage pretty quickly because you don’t have age group championships in para athletics like you do in the able-bodied competition. Training was like an escape from exam stress in the run up to her A-Levels and she says she felt more pressure from her teachers than on the track, so was very pleased when they were over.

Maddie has been training with the University of Birmingham sprint coach for a couple of years and will continue to do that while she studies there. It’s a juggle but one than she’s relishing. She has eight contact hours a week at university, so there’s time for training alongside the work depending on how she’s feeling. She says: “Lectures can take it out of me. I do get more tired.” The T38 category that Maddie competes in includes athletes with cerebral palsy or co-ordination impairment.

STORY TELLING

Along with Sophie Hahn, Maddie’s heroes include Johnny Peacock and Hannah Cockcroft and she says it’s strange competing alongside people she’s looked up to for so long. She’d like more representation of para athletics. Maddie says: “You have people like Kadeena Cox, Dame Sarah Storey and Beth Read who are very visible, but we need more story telling. The main challenge is being underestimated.” The challenges para athletes are going through behind the scenes are incomparable to able-bodied athletes. Able-bodied athletes are pushing their bodies to the absolute limit but so are para athletes with huge hurdles to overcome. There’s also a lack of investment in para athletics which is an added challenge.

WORLD CHAMPS

Maddie says being nominated for a Variety Disability Sports Award was a shock after an “up and down season but a really good shock”. The Awards scheme aims to showcase the positive impact of inclusivity and accessibility in sport, so it’s very flattering and well deserved. Maddie’s name might well be added to the list of athletes inspiring youngsters in the not-too-distant future, if not already. And while she’s torn about whether she can become a full-time athlete or will pursue a different career, for now she’s focusing on balancing training and studies and avoiding the dreaded fresher’s flu. Oh, and looking forward to the World Championships next year, then the Paralympics in Los Angeles in 2028. No biggie.