NORTH DERBYSHIRE RADIO 2024 PARALYMPICS PREVIEW
Two members of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s 2024 Paralympics squad hail from our local
region and both have a very real chance of securing a gold medal at the Games.
DAVE ELLIS (Paratriathlon – Men’s PTVI race)
The 38 year-old from Heanor has won a vast number of gold medals in his illustrious paratriathlon
career; but one major championship title has always eluded him so far and it happens to be the
biggest event of them all.
Ellis is a six-time World champion, four-time European champion, one-time Commonwealth
champion and four-time National champion in the men’s PTVI (paratriathlon visually impaired) event.
Remarkably though, Dave has never won a gold at a Paralympic Games. Visually impaired
paratriathlon races were not part of the Paralympics schedule at Rio 2016. At Tokyo 2020, Ellis was
the huge favourite to win gold but some extremely bad luck forced him to retire midway through the
race during the cycling phase due to a mechanical issue with his bike.
Ellis will compete alongside a guide throughout the race. His guide is Luke Pollard and they have
competed together for a number of years now including the previous Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
Will Dave finally complete his paratriathlon gold medal collection at Paris 2024? We will find out on
Monday 2nd September!
JACK SHEPHARD – (Parabadminton – Men’s Singles SH6; Mixed Doubles SH6)
The 27 year-old parabadminton athlete from Chesterfield will be competing in his second Paralympic
Games at Paris 2024 and has the opportunity to win two medals with the introduction of the mixed
doubles event at the SH6 category.
At Tokyo 2020, Shephard very narrowly missed out on advancing from the group stage and qualifying
for the semi-finals of the men’s singles SH6 event. No doubles events took place at the previous
Paralympic Games.
Jack is extremely confident that Paris 2024 will be a much more successful Paralympic Games for him
and has his eyes set on two gold medals this time around.
Shephard won gold at last year’s European Championships in the men’s singles SH6 event and is a
strong contender for a medal at this year’s Paralympic Games. It’s in the mixed doubles SH6 event
though alongside Liverpool’s Rachel Choong that Shephard has his best chance of securing his first
ever Paralympics gold medal. Shephard and Choong won gold in this event at last year’s European
Championships and are currently ranked number one in the world for this event as well.
Everyone at North Derbyshire Radio wishes Dave and Jack the very best of luck at Paris 2024 and we
know they’ll do our local region proud
North Derbyshire Radio’s Senior Sports Editor Matthew Rhodes spoke to both men ahead of their Paris adventures!
