Training comes first for Para athletes during holiday season

‘Tis the season to be jolly’ but, for many elite Para athletes, the holidays often have to be sacrificed in the chase for those tiny gains which will eventually separate the winners from the losers.

There might be an easing off the pedal in non-Paralympic years but, as the clock ticks towards Paris 2024, the focus is very much on work, work, work.

Diet has also to be watched, even if all that delicious food is just asking to be eaten. In addition, time with family is at a premium, especially if they have to go to bed early in order to be up with the dawn chorus.

Family time

Six-time Paralympic champion Jason Smyth called it a day in March 2023 after years of dominating the visually impaired T13 100m and 200m sprints.

He was the world’s fastest man from 2012-2021 and took the 100m gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. In 2017 he was asked by Paralympic.org what he planned to do over the holidays.

“Unfortunately, nothing too exciting, just training hard. Getting the work in and being consistent in it has been a big part of all my success so I rarely take my eyes off the prize,” said Irishman Smyth, who is legally blind with his central vision affected by Stargardt’s disease.

“Away from sport I spend most of my time with my family and enjoying the time I have with them.”

Smyth, unbeaten in the sport for 18 years, had intended to go to Paris but retired after accepting an administrative job with Paralympics Ireland. In December 2023 he was announced on RTE as the last celebrity to join Dancing with the Stars.

And when asked what he looked forward to most after retiring, he provided a glimpse into the tunnel-vision required for him to be so successful.

“As an athlete you have got to be so selfish, so committed, everything you do is around 'how does this impact training? How am I eating or sleeping?” he said to the BBC.

"My family was maybe going to the zoo and walking around a hill but I could not go because I had to train. It is those little simple things in life that I feel I now have the ability to do a little bit more."

Awards rewards

Athletes face a difficult choice during the holiday season.

Take Hannah The Hurricane Cockroft, who prioritises her winter training but is also swamped with requests for her time.

So far this off-season she has been named disability sportswoman of the year by The Times newspaper, female Para athlete of the year by Athletics Weekly, and recipient of a prestigious award from British Athletic Supporters’ Club.

Hardly a surprise given the British T34 wheelchair racer’s amazing 2023 but it does mean striking a balance between doing the hard yards of winter training in the hills of Yorkshire, while acknowledging her accolades.

“It sure makes winter training that little easier when a good season is noticed,” Cockroft said on social media after sweeping the board.

Winter warmer

She became a 14-time world champion with gold medals in the T34 100m and 800m in Paris and also set world records over the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m in 2023. She is also a seven-time Paralympic gold medallist.

But all the focus now is on Paris and that means no days off.

“365 days of work to do, bank holidays included – we’re a week into winter training and ready for many miles to come,” she posted on social media recently.

“It's always hard to find the balance between the fun stuff and the hard winter miles.  I don't want to sacrifice the gains being made for anything right now.”

Cockroft may find it easier than most in terms of resisting Holiday temptations. Her fiancé, Nathan Maguire, is also a wheelchair racer and in an identical situation.

Business class

Back in 2017, South African prodigy Ntando Mahlangu was asked by paralympic.org about his Holiday plans. The honest youngster confessed he was just out to enjoy himself. He was 15.

“It's off season for me so I am only doing some basic training to keep fit. I'm looking forward to the holidays and spending time with friends and family and just being a teenager.”

Mahlangu, South Africa’s youngest Paralympian, was 14 when he won a silver medal in the T42 200m at Rio 2016. At Tokyo 2020 he won double gold in T61 200m and the T63 long jump (in a world record 7.17m).

It is the off-season before a Paralympic year again, but Mahlangu, who had his legs amputated below the knees at the age of 10, has matured.

He is defending his long jump title in Paris – the 200m has been withdrawn from the schedule – and in November 2023 announced he had moved to Great Britain to join Loughborough University.

Alongside a world-renowned Para set-up, Mahlangu will be studying for a business degree while living 6,000 miles away from home.

"I want to get the best opportunities in both my academic life and in my athletics training and Loughborough is giving me that platform," he tells BBC Sport.

“The reason I came to Loughborough is for the opportunities and to get to work with the best coaches in the world in the best facilities. Going into Paris I have big goals and I think I can go a bit further, and Loughborough is the place to do that.”  

The lights of happy season

It has been quite a year for British wheelchair tennis star Alfie Hewett, who finishes 2023 as world number one for the first time in his career.

His downtime will be one of the shortest, however, when he defends his Australian Open title in January.  He will leave for Melbourne with a special Holiday’s memory, though.

The turning-on of Christmas lights is a tradition for many communities in Britain and Hewett was the celebrity asked to perform the ceremony close to his home in Norwich.

The lights were switched on in memory of five-year-old Finnbar Cork, who died from a brain tumour in August 2017.

“I feel extremely honoured to be a part of this night,” said Hewett. “When I received the email from the charity it was a no-brainer to come out here and be part of the event.”