Paris 2024: Armed Forces athletes to watch out for at the Paralympic Games
Off the back of a triumphant performance for Team GB at the Olympic Games, attention now turns to the outstanding athletes who will be competing at the Paralympic Games in Paris.
As the birthplace of Paralympic sport, the United Kingdom has a proud history of championing Paralympic sport and has enjoyed multiple successful runs in previous games.
From the UK Armed Forces, three Afghanistan veterans will be flying the flag for ParalympicsGB, including two defending Paralympic champions and a para-rower making his debut at the games.
We will expect the return of Tokyo 2020 stars Jaco van Gass in para-cycling and Stu Robinson in wheelchair rugby, both of whom are among the 49 Paralympic champions selected to compete in Paris.
Para-rower Gregg Stevenson will be among 81 athletes making their debuts at this year's games, where he and his teammate Lauren Rowles are favourites to win the PR2 mixed double sculls title.
Here's a detailed look at the forces athletes who will be taking part and when you can see them in action.
Gregg Stevenson – para-rowing
30 August - 1 September
Gregg Stevenson served as a Royal Engineers Commando before he suffered a traumatic injury while serving in Afghanistan in 2009, which led to a double leg amputation.
Despite initial struggles, he worked hard to regain fitness and pursued opportunities to learn new sports, which led to him taking up rowing after he tried out for the Invictus Games in 2018.
He eventually paired up with Lauren Rowles, a double Paralympic gold medallist from Rio 2026 and Tokyo 2020, and since then the pair have been unstoppable.
The duo have won titles in the PR2 mixed double sculls on the world cup circuit while also becoming back-to-back European champions and then world champions in 2023, setting a World Bets Time in an undefeated season and also booking a quota place to the Paralympic Games.
Stevenson and Rowles are heavy favourites to win the gold medal in the PR2 mixed double sculls category.
Jaco van Gass – para-cycling
29 August - 1 September
A former Parachute Regiment soldier, Jaco van Gass was injured while serving in Afghanistan in 2009 when he was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, which led to the loss of his left arm below the elbow.
He has since gone on to para-cycling success by becoming Paralympic champion in Tokyo in the men's individual pursuit C3 and the mixed team sprint C1-5.
Three years on from his success in Tokyo, van Gass is once again a favourite to win multiple medals in Paris off the back of a successful world championship campaign in Rio de Janeiro earlier this year, winning five medals overall.
When speaking to BFBS, he said his goals were to defend the titles he won in Tokyo and to achieve another world record.
Away from cycling, van Gass is a keen adventurer and public speaker.
Stu Robinson – wheelchair rugby
29 August - 2 September
Royal Air Force veteran Stu Robinson lost his lower left leg when he stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED) while on routine patrol in Camp Bastion in 2013.
Determined to get his life back to normal as quickly as possible, Robinson threw himself into the recovery programme where he had the opportunity to play wheelchair rugby at the Invictus Games, winning a gold medal.
That moment led to the start of a glittering career, including attending his first Paralympic Games in Rio in 2016.
He then went on to compete in a nail-biting final against Team USA at the Paralympics in Tokyo, where he and the rest of the team won a historic gold medal for ParalympicsGB.
That epic final was the second most-watched event of the games in Tokyo on Channel 4.
Luke Pollard - para-triathlon
2 September
Luke Pollard joined the Royal Air Force in 2011 working in logistics and it was there that he was introduced to triathlon whilst on his first posting, and since then he had gone on to compete for the RAF and was put onto their elite athlete scheme.
He became a guide for visually impaired athlete David Ellis in 2019 and in their first event as a pair, they won the British duathlon title.
Since then, Pollard has guided Ellis to multiple world cup, Commonwealth, European and world championship titles
But at the last Paralympic Games in Tokyo, the pair's medal hopes came to a screeching halt when a broken bike chain forced them to end their race with a mechanical DNF.
Now a veteran of the RAF after leaving following the Tokyo games, Pollard and Ellis hope to put right the wrongs of 2021 as they chase that elusive Paralympic title in the men's PTVI triathlon.
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