TWO Paralympic gold medal winners from Fife have been selected for funding for the upcoming year as part of a UK Sport initiative.
Ben Sandilands and Owen Miller, who are both members of Fife AC, have been offered membership to the Paralympic World Class Programme (WCP) for 2024/25.
Funded by the National Lottery, it supports the delivery of success at the Paralympic Games and other major championships, and a total of 35 athletes have been invited onto the programme.
Ben, 21, made his Paralympic Games debut at this year's event in Paris, and stormed to a stunning victory in the T20 classification 1500 metres.
Having won gold at the 2023 Para Athletics World Championships in the French city, the talented runner, who, alongside Owen, is coached by Steve Doig, who leads a training group based at Pitreavie, repeated that feat whilst also setting a new world record time of three minutes and 45.50 seconds.
That achievement saw him shortlisted for Para Athlete of the Year at the scottishathletics and jogscotland 4J Studios Annual Awards last month, a prize he was jointly awarded alongside wheelchair racer, Samantha Kinghorn, who won one gold and four gold medals at the Games.
READ MORE: West Fife nominees scoop national athletics accolades
Ben is joining on the programme by team-mate Owen, who won gold in the same event when he made his Paralympic Games debut at the delayed Tokyo event in 2021.
The 33-year-old, a former pupil at Woodmill High School, ran to glory in a time of 3:54.57, which was, at the time, both a personal best and the fastest time recorded over the distance by a British or European runner.
This year, however, he suffered disappointment as he was unable to defend his title in Paris through an injury picked up at a training camp, which also ruled him out of the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships, in Kobe, Japan, for which he had been picked.
The Paralympic WCP is split into several levels - podium, podium potential and confirmation - that reflects the actual and future performance potential of those selected.
Athletes are nominated for the WCP if it is judged that they have the realistic and demonstrable performance capability to win medals at the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympic Games, or onwards towards 2032.
Ben and Owen have both been put forward for podium level funding, the highest tier, alongside a further 17 other athletes, whilst another of Steve's training group, Steven Bryce, who is a member of the Victoria Park City of Glasgow club, is one of five selected at confirmation level.
Katie Jones, head of the UK Athletics Paralympic programme, said: "Our thanks go to UK Sport and The National Lottery for investing in the Paralympic World Class Programme.
"We look forward to receiving confirmation of our LA investment later this year so that we can continue to retain our place as one of the world’s leading nations for para athletics.
"The support is essential to helping our para athletes continue to be the best prepared they can be for the major championships and Games and it is essential we continue to build on the successes of the last few paralympic cycles."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here