Paralympics: Team GB Medal Hopes including Hannah Cockcroft and Alfie Hewett

The 2024 Paralympics gets underway on Wednesday 28th August and Team GB will be hoping to continue the success of previous editions.

After collecting 124 medals in Tokyo, including 41 golds, GB finished second in the medal table three years ago.

Team GB went even better in Rio, when they won 147 medals, with 64 of those being golds, alongside 39 silvers and 44 bronze.

In this article, we look at the top five Great British medal hopes for Paris.

Hannah Cockcroft

Athletics

Competing in her fourth Paralympics, wheelchair athlete Hannah Cockroft heads to France looking to add to her haul of seven gold medals.

At the age of just 20, the Yorkshire woman won both the 100m and 200m T34 events in London in 2012. The Leeds City AC athlete then beat that tally in Rio, collecting first place in the T34 100m, 400m and 800m.

Cockcroft picked up golds six and seven in Tokyo, with success in the T34 100m and 800m, and will aim to maintain her unbeaten run in Paris.

The 16-time world champion will be out to defend her Paralympic titles in both the 100m and 800m.

Dame Sarah Storey

Cycling

It's an amazing feat to win Paralympic gold in one sport, but Dame Sarah Storey has achieved it in two separate disciplines.

Storey made her first Paralympic appearance back in 1992, when she won two golds, three silvers and one bronze in swimming. She followed that up with five more medals in Atlanta (three gold, one silver and one bronze), before claiming two more silvers in Sydney in 2000.

Having won two silvers and one bronze in 2004, Storey decided to switch from the pool to the bike and competed in cycling in 2008.

In Beijing, she collected gold medals in the Time Trial and Individual Pursuit, before winning another four golds at London 2012.

After more success in Rio and Tokyo, Storey currently has 28 Paralympic medals across two sports, with 17 golds.

Now at the age of 46 and competing in her ninth Games, Team GB's cycling star will look to defend her C5 time trial and C4-5 road race titles.

Will Bayley

Table Tennis

Will Bayley first came to the public's attention in 2012, when winning a table tennis silver medal at the London Paralympics.

Four years later, the man from Kent went one better and claimed gold in the Individual - Class 7 in Rio.

Bayley - who took part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2019 - won two silvers in 2021 after competing in the Individual and Team events.

The 36-year-old goes in search of another gold in Paris, and if he can win, he will simultaneously be the Paralympic, world and European champion.

David Smith

Boccia

Paris will mark a fifth Paralympic Games for David Smith, with the Team GB athlete looking to collect a sixth medal.

Boccia star Smith won gold in Tokyo in the Individual BC1 and was then given the role as flag bearer for the closing ceremony.

The 35-year-old, a Swansea Boccia Club member, won silver at the World Championships in 2022 and will look to go one better in Paris.

Smith will seek to win a third consecutive Paralympic gold in the Individual BC1 event.

Alfie Hewett

Tennis

After enjoying Wimbledon success this summer, Alfie Hewett will hope to add a Paralympic gold to his already bulging trophy cabinet.

The 26-year-old has won all four Grand Slam tennis titles, in both singles and doubles, but is seeking his first Paralympic gold.

Hewett won silver in the singles in Rio, while also finishing second in the doubles in Brazil.

He then won silver in the doubles in Tokyo before losing in the bronze-medal singles match to fellow Brit Gordon Reid.

Hewett, who was awarded an OBE in 2023 for his services to tennis, is a three-time French Open winner and will be confident of success on the famous clay courts of Roland Garros.