Iona Winnifrith: Great Britain's Youngest Paris 2024 Paralympian
The Paralympic Medallist in Swimming is just 13 years old
She doesn’t even need to choose her GCSE options yet, but thirteen-year-old Iona Winnifrith is already carving out an impressive career as an elite swimmer, having medalled at her first Paralympic Games.
On the 31st August in Paris, Iona set a new European Record in the SM7 Women’s 200m individual medley with a time of 3:03:25, but placed just outside the medals in 4th. Of her Paralympic debut, she said:
“Obviously fourth is a little bit disappointing but I am still really happy. I didn’t have any expectations, this is just a warm-up for me so to do that time is really good. I’ve never swam in an arena this big and the atmosphere is crazy.”
As the medals racked up for ParalympicsGB swimmers, who leave Paris with an incredible 32 Paralympic medals in that sport, Iona found that the influx of medals from teammates helped drive her performance:
“It has spurred me on so much, everyone has been coming back with their medals and it has made me even more confident. For my breaststroke, I am just hoping for a massive PB and hopefully gold in the breaststroke, that would be really cool.”
The team won 18 gold, 8 silver and 6 bronze medals throughout the Games, the sport’s greatest success this century. Although the gold wasn't to be, Iona did win a silver medal in the SB7 women’s 100m breaststroke, with a personal best time of 1:29.69. After the race she said
“I’m really happy with that performance. As much as I wanted that gold, I knew I had to keep fighting and that’s what I did so I’m really happy. Getting a silver medal at 13 is really cool. It’s a lifetime best, so I’m as proud as I could have been.”
Mature ahead of her years, the teenager is from Tonbridge, Kent, and followed the flippers of her Dad and brothers by taking up swimming at their local club. She’s enjoyed a meteoric rise in the sport since late last year, when she broke the British record for 100m breaststroke.
Speaking to Iona’s coach Michael Ellis ahead of the Games, he said
“It’s happened so fast. If we had had this conversation a year ago, it wasn't even on the radar. That first British record really that got Aquatics GB interested [in Iona].”
She received world classification in March this year, and competed at the World Series in Italy in April. Iona secured three youth medals at the meet, which Ellis said was “her first taste of true international competition”. During the Paralympic trials, he said Iona made a “massive, massive jump forward, shaved 3 seconds off her PB and booked her seat on the train to Paris.”
Since selection, the training approach from Iona’s personal and national coaches has been with an eye to her future development:
“We’re very conscious that she's still so young and she still needs somewhere to go, so we haven't really changed much in terms of what she's doing - nothing crazy, still pretty much fundamental so lots of skills and drills.”
“There's a lot of debutantes in the swimming team and [AquaticsGB] are doing a really good job in preparing them both physically and mentally to go out and enjoy the occasion as well as compete.
Iona gave strict instructions for her coach and spectating supporters: “I have been told under no circumstances am I allowed to have her face on a T-shirt”, Ellis said, but he was in charge of the post Games Plan. “As far as I've got is the day after her last race, it just has in big capital letters REST.”