Sarah Storey’s 2024 Highlights as Sports Personality Nominee

Sarah Storey is one of six nominees for the 2024 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. BBC Sport examines the Para-cyclist’s performance and achievements over the past year. In August, Storey participated in her ninth Paralympic Games, a record for a British athlete. During this event, she secured her 18th gold medal by winning the C5 time trial. This victory marked the fifth consecutive Games where she has triumphed in this specific event. Only two days later, she earned a second gold medal in Paris, defeating French competitor Heidi Gaugain in a dramatic sprint finish to claim the C4-5 road race for the fourth occasion. Storey finished mere inches ahead of Gaugain, who is 27 years younger than her. Storey’s total Paralympic medal count now stands at 30, accumulated across two sports and nine Paralympic Games, beginning with her debut as a swimmer at Barcelona 1992. Of these, nineteen are gold, a higher number than any other British athlete. The following month, in September, Storey successfully retained her C4-C5 individual time trial title at the World Championships held in Switzerland, once more overcoming Gaugain for the win. She completed the 29.9km course in a time of 45 minutes 25 seconds, finishing one minute 36 seconds ahead of the French competitor. Six days subsequent to this, she also retained her C5 road race title amidst the wet conditions in Zurich. This achievement represented her 10th road race-time trial double at the World Championships, bringing her total cycling world titles to 39.