On A Roll | Athletes To Watch

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As the 2025 Australian Wheelchair Racing Championships roll into Canberra next week as part of the Summer Down Under Series, all eyes will be on an exceptional group of athletes set to showcase their skill and speed in their first Championships since the Paris Paralympic Games.

Hosted by Wheelchair Sports NSW and ACT, the Summer Down Under series aims to promote wheelchair racing by bringing together both the high performance and grassroots levels of the sport.

Here are the top athletes to watch:

Jake Lappin
Events: 100m, 400m, 800m, 1500m and 5000m T54
Credentials: Two-time Paralympian – London 2012, Rio 2016 and Commonwealth Games medallist

One of the stalwarts of Australian wheelchair racing, Jake Lappin (Jamie Green/Fred Periac) first made his presence known at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India, where he was one of three Australians to qualify for the Men’s 1500m T54 final at just 18-years-old. From those early teenage, Lappin has gone on to carve out a long and successful career in the green and gold.

While the Canberra native missed selection for the Paris Paralympic Games, Lappin showed off incredible form in May 2023 when he broke the Australian 800m T54 record clocking 1:31.62 – adding to his records in all distances from 100m through to 800m.

Also an accomplished marathoner,  Lappin’s strength is his tactical brilliance and ability to adapt to a competitive field, making him a strong contender across all five distances in Canberra.

Angie Ballard
Events: 100m, 400m, 800m, 1500m
Credentials: Seven-time Paralympian – Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 and 20-time global medallist

With an illustrious career spanning decades, Angie Ballard (Jamie Green) remains a beacon of excellence within global wheelchair racing.

The seven-time Paralympian found her competitive edge in wheelchair racing in 1994 – just five years after sustaining her injury as a seven-year-old. It was not long before those around Ballard realised they were witnessing the rise of a Paralympic star.

Ballard got involved in wheelchair racing through a Wheelchair Sports NSW camp, but it was making her Australian team debut at the 1998 World Para Athletics Championships, and becoming a dual gold medallist upon debut that spurred on her career. She made her Paralympic debut two years later in front of a home crowd in Sydney.

Over the next, nearly two decades, Ballard set world records, won world titles, Paralympic medals and Commonwealth Games gold – feats that continue to inspire the next generation of wheelchair racers, who have the privilege of racing beside her in Canberra.

Samuel Rizzo
Events: 100m, 400m, 800m, 1500m and 5000m
Credentials: Paris 2024 Paralympian

Touted as the next big thing in Australian wheelchair racing, Sam Rizzo (Richard Colman) has made waves over the last few years with impressive performances both domestically and abroad.

Prior to making his Paralympic debut last year in Paris, Rizzo achieved a childhood dream, when breaking the Australian 1500m T54 record by nearly four seconds – last set by Paralympic great Kurt Fearnley in 2012.

In 2024, the Paralympian placed seventh in the world in the 800m final, sixth in his 1500m heat, and on top of breaking the Australian 1500m T54 record, also set a new personal best of 10:03.69 in the 5000m. All eyes will be on the 24-year-old in Canberra, as he uses the last year of success to springboard him to stardom in 2025.

Sam McIntosh
Events: 100m, 200m and 400m T52
Credentials: Four Paralympic Games – London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024

Under the tutelage of Fred Periac, Sam McIntosh has compiled an impressive career which includes four Paralympic Games and four World Championships and is eager to bring home his maiden global medal in 2025.

In career-best form in 2023, McIntosh pushed faster than his Australian record with a 17.14 100m T52 time at the ACT State Championships, and a series of good times booked his eighth Australian team for the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in Paris, where the Geelong native placed fourth in 18.18 seconds.

Last year he lowered his Australian record once again to 17.11 but was unlucky to qualify for the finals at Paris 2024.

McIntosh currently holds three Australian records in the 100m, 200m and 400m T52, and also owns the Oceania records for the 100m and 200m.

Rheed McCracken
Events: 100m, 400m, 800m T34
Credentials: Four-time Paralympian – London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, and 13-time global medallist

Rheed McCracken (Louise Sauvage) needs no introduction. A Paralympic medallist and one of Australia’s most decorated wheelchair racers at just 27-years-old, McCracken brings a wealth of experience and an undeniable hunger for success to the track at the Australian Institute of Sport.

Although he was always destined to become a global medallist, it was a chance meeting with Channel 7 personality, David Koch, that propelled the Bundaberg product into stardom. Seated next to Kochi on a plane, the two struck up a conversation about Paralympic wheelchair racing great Kurt Fearnley, and Kochi, who had known Fearnley for many years, offered Rheed the opportunity of a lifetime when he challenged him to compete against his idol in a wheelchair race in Sydney.

Two years later, he made his international debut and the following year, he found himself on the podium at the London Paralympic Games. He has not missed out on a major championships since his debut, and he has also brought home medals from all four Paralympic Games that he has attended.

Ahead of selection in 2024, McCracken made a breakthrough smashing his 800m personal best in 1:38.78, showing that there is lots to look forward to in 2025 for the athlete and model.

Luke Bailey
Events: 100m, 400m, 800m T54
Credentials: Two-time Paralympian – Tokyo 2020, Paris 2024

Paralympic champion Kurt Fearnley has inspired many if not all of today’s premier wheelchair racers, but none more so than Luke Bailey.

Under the expert tutelage of coach Andrew Dawes who guided Fearnley’s career, there was a nice synergy when Bailey began his Paralympic Games journey in Tokyo, just as Fearnley’s had ended. In fact, it was also a chat with the Australian legend that stirred the wheelchair racing bug inside of a young Bailey.

From the moment that he sat in Fearnley’s racing chair at the age of 12, Bailey was sold and set his eyes firmly on selection for the 2020 Australian Paralympic Team. He uprooted his life to Newcastle to train with Fearnley and Dawes, leaving all of his friends and family behind in Wingham to get the training and support required to achieve his dream.

However, before Tokyo, came the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships, where he the sprinter unleashed to make his first global final in the 100m T54 and make his mark ahead of Tokyo.

Last year he competed in the World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan, where he placed an excellent fourth in the 100m T54 and ninth in the 800m T54, and finished seventh at his second Paralympic Games. He plans to use the Summer Season as a launch pad for success as he looks towards the World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi in September.

Sarah Clifton-Bligh
Events: 100m, 200m, 400m, 8000m, 1500m, Shot Put and Club Throw T/F33
Credentials: Paris 2024 Paralympian

Sarah Clifton-Bligh’s (Louise Sauvage) journey in para athletics started in primary school at the age of eight, when she threw shot put and tried out wheelchair racing in her day chair, before borrowing a racing chair through Wheelchair Sports NSW.

10 years later, the Sydneysider made her Australian team debut at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where she placed fifth in the T34 100m in a time of 22.71. In 2023, she was selected for three events at the World Para Athletics Championships, placing seventh in the 100m, 800m and Shot Put.

At her second world championships in May last year, she again lined up in the same three events, improving to fifth in the 100m and 800m, and maintained her seventh place in the shot put, helping her progress through to her Paralympic debut last year in the Shot Put F32.

Coco Espie
Events: 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, Shot Put, Discus T/F33

She might still be in high school, but don’t dismiss young gun Coco Espie (Louise Sauvage and Glen L). Already a national champion, in 2024, she won the Australian 1500m title, racing just two seconds outside of the T33 world record.

At the Chemist Warehouse Australian Athletics Championships in Adelaide last year, she cruised to success, winning a full set of medals, with a gold, silver and bronze in multi class events and is showing great progression in all distances from 100m to 1500m, as well as seated shit put and discus, and holds the Australian U15 and U17 records for these events. She also won gold in all four events at the recent Chemist Warehouse Australian All Schools Championships, breaking records in discus and shot put.

With credentials like these at the young age of 16, Espie will be one to watch in Canberra this week.

By Sascha Ryner, Athletics Australia
Posted: 19/1/2025

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