Samantha Kinghorn

The 2017 season was undoubtedly Kinghorn’s most successful yet.

The Scot, who completes in the T53 class, broke her first ever world record over 200m at the Arizona Grand Prix in May that year, then claimed three European records in Switzerland before heading to the London 2017 World Championships.

Competing in the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m T53, she clinched gold in both of the shorter sprints as well as bronze over one lap.

Kinghorn also knocked a further 0.06 seconds off her 200m world record as she saw off a highly competitive field including the likes of Australia’s defending champion Angie Ballard.

Kinghorn took up Para athletics in 2011 a year after fracturing her spinal cord in an accident on her family’s farm. She made her senior international debut in 2014 at the European Championships in Swansea, Great Britain, where she claimed three gold medals.

A year later at the Doha 2015 World Championships Kinghorn best placed finish was third in the 200m T53, while at the Rio Paralympic Games she finished out of the medals.

After her success at the London 2017 World Championships, Kinghorn turned her attention to the roads and made her marathon debut in Chicago, USA, in October where she finished fifth. She plans to race the distance at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April.

Kinghorn was named 2017 Scottish Sportsperson of the Year – the first Para sport athlete to take the top award in its 15-year history.