Leilia Adzhametova

The visually impaired sprinter first made her mark in May 2016 at the Nottwil Grand Prix, beating South Africa’s reigning world champion Isle Hayes on the Swiss track.

Then at the Berlin Grand Prix in Germany a few weeks later, Adzhametova won the sprint double, including a new European record over 200m. So when she arrived in Rio for the 2016 Paralympic Games three months later, there was no doubt gold was a real prospect.

The Ukrainian duly succeeded, setting a new world record of 11.86 in the heats – 0.03 seconds faster than Hayes’ best – before racing to the line in 11.79 seconds to take gold in the final. She also won bronze over 400m.

In 2017 Adzhametova continued to impress, and as Hayes’ track and field career came to an end – the South African retired after London 2017 - Adzhametova underlined her place as the new queen of the track with a hat trick of gold medals at the World Championships.

Gold in the 200m T13 came first, with a new European record of 24.63, then a day later Adzhametova clinched the 100m T13 title with a new championship record (12.00). Two days after that her hat trick was complete with a terrific sprint to the line down the home straight of the 400m T13 (56.58).