Track to Tokyo - The ones to watch
22nd Gorffennaf 2020
No one supports our #TNLAthletes more than National Lottery Players who raise around £30 million each week for good causes
To celebrate one year to go (again) until the Tokyo Games, we teamed up with UK Sport to introduce you to 21 athletes you should be keeping an eye on in a year's time. Over the next year, we’ll follow them on their track to Tokyo so make sure you follow us on Twitter and Facebook and use the hashtag #NationalLotteryAthletes.
Masie Summers-Newton
At the time of writing, the para swimmer from Northampton is the world record holder in the SB6 100m Breaststroke and SM6 100m Individual Medley. She was also named as British Swimming’s Emerging Athlete of the Year in 2017.
Lauren Williams
Lauren has been turning heads in the taekwondo world since she was a teenager.
Winning her first international gold as a 15-year-old, Lauren has gone from strength to strength, with a medal collection of championship event wins that most would be jealous of… and she’s only just turned 20!
Kye Whyte
The 20-year-old from Peckham, South London, got into cycling as a way of getting away from crime and drugs which are prevalent in his area.
Hannah Mills and Eilidh Mcintyre
Tokyo will be Eilidh’s first Olympic Games, 32 years after had dad won gold for GB, whilst Hannah will be aiming to defend her title from Rio 2016. Both grew up in the sport of sailing and are aiming for gold in a year's time.
Ros Canter
Hailing from Hallington in Lincolnshire, Ros, and her horse Allstar B are looking to add to their two World Championship medals with an Olympic version in 2021.
Jamie Cooke
In Jamie Cooke, British Olympic fans will have a World Champion and former world number 1 flying the flag for them. He competes in the Modern Pentathlon which consists of 5 events: Fencing, freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running.
Freya Anderson
For someone who’s just 19, Freya Anderson is already used to winning medals on the international stage.
The swimmer from Merseyside has now won medals at the 2019 World and European Championships and the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Dimitri Coutya
Dimitri is a wheelchair fencer and has won over 30 medals for Great Britain, including an epee gold at the 2019 World Championships and 2018 European Championships.
Courtney Tulloch
The 24-year-old from Lewisham, London, is a rising star and a member of the British gymnastics team that won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Elliot Stewart
At 28, Elliott started to lose his sight. Thankfully, Elliott had a successful operation to stop him losing his sight completely and found himself able to continue his passion for judo by enlisting in the VI judo team. He’s now aiming for the Tokyo 2021 Paralympics.
Lauren Price
Born in the town of Ystrad Mynach near Caerphilly, Wales, Lauren was a World Champion kickboxer at the age of 12 and, as a 16 year old, spent six months as part of the World Class Programme for GB Taekwondo after being scouted via the Fighting Chance talent campaign. She has now embarked on a new career in boxing and is aiming for Tokyo 2020.
Ben Llewellin
Ben is a professional clay shooter from Pembrokeshire in Wales. He is the current British and Commonwealth Games silver medalist in Olympic skeet shooting.
Mallory Franklin
26-year-old Mallory Franklin is a C1 and K1 slalom canoeist and in 2018, she became Great Britain’s most successful female canoeist, winning a record eight individual and three team medals in a season.
Grace Reid
The 24-year-old diver from Edinburgh describes the first dive she ever took aged four as “feeling like flying”.
Since then, Grace has gone from strength to strength, winning gold in both the Commonwealth Games and European Championships in 2018.
Charlotte Henshaw
Charlotte Henshaw has spent the last three years canoeing, having previously enjoyed a very successful para-swimming career.
Charlotte first started swimming aged four, when she began lessons at her local pool. She made her Paralympic debut in 2008 but has switched sports from swimming to para canoeing for 2020.
Jess Learmonth
Jess is a triathlete who will happily tell you she’s “Made in Yorkshire”. She won a silver medal in the mixed relay and individual races at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and most recently at the 2019 Grand Final Lausanne.
Sabrina Fortune
Sabrina Fortune hails from Mold in North Wales and first became inspired to take up athletics after watching her brother compete. She competes in Shot-put and claimed gold at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships.
Ali Jawad
Ali Jawad is a British Paralympic powerlifter. The 31-year-old has been competing since the age of 16, and has British, European and World records under his belt.
Ellen Buttrick
24-year-old Ellen Buttrick, the para-rower and charity worker hoping to make her Paralympic debut at Tokyo 2020.
Nekoda Smythe-Davis
Nekoda has Olympic qualification in sight and is determined to be on the plane to Tokyo in July. The young judoka has gone from strength to strength and after acting as a volunteer at London 2012
Jordan Thomas
Jordan has overcome the odds to become a member of GB’s Karate squad and the 27-year-old is hoping to go to the Olympic Games and has his sights set firmly on karate’s debut at Tokyo.
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