SAMMI Kinghorn is not one to rest on her laurels. A two-time Paralympic medallist and three-time world champion, the 28-year-old wheelchair racer has been blazing a trail on the international athletics stage for over a decade.
She has racked up impressive podium finishes, stunning world records and a host of other stellar achievements, but Kinghorn, who grew up near Gordon in the Scottish Borders, remains focused on what comes next: even bigger, bolder goals.
This month, Kinghorn will compete in her third Paralympic Games when she travels to Paris to challenge for medals in the 100m, 400m, 800m and 1500m T53, as well as the 4x100m relay.
“It’s crazy,” she says, reflecting on this milestone. “I’ve had very different experiences at every Paralympic Games. Rio was my first event and I was so young and terrified. In Tokyo, obviously, there was no one there to celebrate my first podium at a Paralympic Games, which was really sad.
“I’m older this time and hopefully wiser. I’m excited to have my friends and family in Paris so it’s really cool. I also can’t believe this is my third visit.”
Athletics action gets underway on the lavender-coloured track at the Stade de France on Thursday.
Kinghorn celebrates winning a bronze medal in the 100m – T53 at the Tokyo Paralympic Games
Kinghorn poses on the podium with the bronze medal she won at the Tokyo 2021 Games
Kinghorn’s medals include an MBE, which he received at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
“The 100m will probably be my main event,” Kinghorn said. “But I’ll aim for a medal in all of them.”
‘I’m going to have a very intense schedule. You never know when your last Games will be, so I think: ‘Let’s try it and see what happens.’
Kinghorn comes into these Paralympics in arguably the best form of her athletics career to date. This year she has achieved personal best times in almost every distance, including the 100m (15.39), 400m (51.40) and 800m (1:41.50).
In February she set a new world record for the 1500 m (later surpassed by Catherine Debrunner), clocking 3:07.53 at the Sharjah International Open Para Athletics Meeting (followed by another personal best of 3:06.47 at the ParAthletics 2024 WPA Grand Prix in June).
Kinghorn, who lives in Cheshire, is aware that a fierce battle awaits her in Paris. Among her rivals will be the powerful Swiss Debrunner, a five-time world track champion and winner of the Berlin, Chicago, New York and London marathons.
Other names to watch out for include Australia’s Madison de Rozario and Chinese duo Gao Fang and Zhou Hongzhuan, all of whom are experts at podium finishes at the highest level.
Kinghorn admits that his competitors sometimes appear in his thoughts as he makes his final preparations for the Paralympics.
“It’s hard not to think about them and what they’re doing,” he says. “The T53, which is my classification, how fast it is right now thanks to Catherine, is quite scary. All the world records in my classification are faster than the world records in the T54.
“That makes it very difficult, but it also makes the sport very exciting because he’s achieving times that nobody thought possible. It’s going to be tough.”
Kinghorn, coached by Rodger Harkins, who previously worked with retired 400m star Lee McConnell, is candid about her mindset ahead of the Paralympics.
“It’s amazing to win medals, but there are only three,” she says. “If you put your whole life and happiness into winning one of those three medals, you probably don’t feel very good if you don’t win.”
‘Instead, I try to focus on knowing that I can go faster and that’s exciting. I want to see how far I can push my body and how fast it can go, but I try not to get too hung up on medals.
“I’ll be satisfied when I’m a Paralympic champion. Obviously, I think I can be one. But it may not happen and I don’t want to base all my happiness on that.”
And then the inevitable question arises: what comes after Paris? Kinghorn already has some ideas. “It’s my third Paralympic Games, so the temptation to take a bit of time off afterwards is definitely there,” she muses.
“I think I might run a few marathons next year. The pressure on the track is what I find most difficult, whereas on the road I feel there is much less pressure and different people win in each race, because not all races are suitable for all runners.”
Kinghorn was 14 when she was paralyzed from the waist down after an accident on her family’s farm in 2010, crushed by a forklift while helping to shovel snow.
She had long hoped that as her sporting career progressed, this life-changing event would not be the first thing she would be asked about. Has that come true?
“There are certainly still people who want to ask about it,” Kinghorn says. “But I’d say it’s a lot fewer. The point is, I’m happy to share my story. It’s not something I don’t want to share. I enjoy telling people the things I learned through that process and the things my family learned.
“But that’s not what I want to be remembered for, so, as is always the case at the beginning of any interview, I think, ‘That’s not me now…'”
‘This year marks 14 years since the accident. So I could feel my legs and walk for 14 years and now I’ve been in a wheelchair for 14 years. I think it’s quite a strange milestone.
“Because I still think I’m pretty new to wheelchair life and I’m still learning, but really no, I’ve been in a wheelchair as long as I’ve walked.”
Talking about it makes me realize that things could have been different. “That’s the most important thing sport has done for me: it helped me accept it,” she says. “If I hadn’t played sport, I don’t know where my mind would be or what I would be doing now.”
‘Sport has been the best thing for me. I’ve been able to meet people like me, travel the world and find different ways to stay fit and healthy, which is certainly much harder when you’re sitting all the time.
“It’s strange because I still dream that I’m standing, but I do occasionally carry my wheelchair around and that’s something quite new. Sometimes I carry it in my arms, sometimes I take it in the car. I dream that I’m in my racing chair, but not in my day chair.”
As well as athletics, Kinghorn is developing a successful parallel career as a television presenter and has become a regular face on the popular BBC series Countryfile.
“I love it,” she says. “I feel very lucky for the opportunities I’ve been given and I’ve definitely made the most of them. Even though I’m the presenter, it’s nice not to be the centre of attention and to be able to interview other people.
‘I feel like it’s quite natural for me to be the interviewer because I’ve been interviewed so many times and I feel like I know the questions that are quite irritating, so I try not to do that.’
It’s a space she says she feels very comfortable in. “You can become the ‘athlete’ and I never wanted to be just ‘the athlete’. I feel like Countryfile is a way to show another side of me other than just the girl who trains and competes, so it’s been amazing.”
