Dame Sarah Storey OBE

Navigation:
Home » Athletes
Dame Sarah Storey OBE

Revised: August 2021

Current Team
Storey Racing
DOB
26/10/1977
From
Disley
Based
Manchester
Social Links
Twitter Facebook

Sarah's Profile

Biography

Born without a functioning left hand, Storey’s first sport was swimming. She represented Great Britain at four Paralympic games, starting in Barcelona in 1992 at the age of 14, winning five Paralympic golds, eight silvers and three bronze medals, as well as winning five world titles and 18 European championships.

Forced out of the pool for much of 2005 due to ear infections, Storey took to two wheels to maintain her fitness and, by the end of the year, had broken the world record for the para-cycling three-kilometre individual pursuit.

Storey’s first taste of international competition offered a hint of the massive success to come as she won triple gold at the Para-cycling European Championships, gold in the individual pursuit and 500-metre time trial on the track, as well as the road race.

With the Beijing Paralympics looming, Storey was emerging as a strong medal contender and her first world title - in the individual pursuit at the 2006 UCI Para-Cycling World Championships - simply enhanced her reputation.

At those Paralympics, her fifth, Storey won gold in the individual pursuit, in a time that would have placed her in the top eight of the Olympic finals, as well as the road time trial.

Perhaps even more impressively, within eight days of collecting her Paralympic gold, she had become a champion at the British Cycling National Track Championships, winning the individual pursuit, a title she successfully defended in 2009.

Not surprisingly, Storey was becoming the dominant force in women’s para-cycling with four more world titles in 2009 and a 2010 season in which she again won two road para-cycling golds while earning selection for the England team at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Storey placed sixth in the individual pursuit, the highest placing by an English rider and just ahead of future Olympic champion Laura Trott. She became the first para-cyclist to compete for England at the Commonwealth Games and also became the second para-athlete to do so, after archer Danielle Brown, earlier in Delhi.

That form catapulted Storey into contention for one of the three places on the Great Britain team pursuit team for the London Olympics and, in 2011, she won gold at the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Manchester in a time that was just 0.188 off the world record. Later in the year, she also won gold in the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Cali, Colombia, before being ruled out of contention for London.

That disappointment proved fleeting as six more road and track para-cycling world titles came her way in 2011 and 2012, leading to the London Paralympics in which Storey was little short of magnificent, winning gold in all four of her events - the 500-metre time trial, the individual pursuit, the road race and time trial. For good measure, her first win - the first British gold of the Paralympics - saw her set a world record in the pursuit.

If you have been inspired to get on a bike...

Get Involved

Selected Career Highlights to Date

Results

2021

UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, Cascais (Portugal)
Gold, WC5 time trial
Gold, WC5 road race

2020

UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, Milton (Canada)
Gold, WC5 omnium
Gold, WC5 scratch race
Gold, WC5 pursuit

2019

UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, Emmen (Netherlands)
Gold, WC5 time trial
Gold, WC5 road race

UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, Apeldoorn (Netherlands)
Gold, WC5 pursuit
Gold, WC5 scratch race
Silver WC5 500m

2018

UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, Maniago (Italy)
Gold, road race
Gold, time trial

2016

UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, Montichiari (Italy)
Gold, Individual pursuit
Silver, 500m time trial
Silver, Scratch race

Paralympic Games, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
Gold, Individual pursuit
Gold, Road race
Gold, Time trial

2015

UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, Nottwil (Switzerland)
Gold, Time trial
Gold, Road race

UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, Apeldoorn (Holland)
Gold, 500-metre time trial
Gold, Individual pursuit

2014

UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, Greenville (USA)
Gold, Time trial
Gold, Road race

UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, Aguascalientes (Mexico)
Gold, Individual pursuit
Gold, Scratch race
Bronze, 500-metre time trial

2012

Paralympic Games, London (UK)
Gold, 500-metre time trial
Gold, Individual pursuit
Gold, Road race
Gold, Time trial

UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, Los Angeles (USA)
Gold, 500-metre time trial
Gold, Individual pursuit
Silver, Team sprint

2011

UCI Track Cycling World Cup, Cali (Colombia)
Gold, Team pursuit

UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, Roskilde (Denmark)
Gold, Time trial
Gold, Road race

UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, Montichiari (Italy)
Gold, Individual pursuit
Gold, 500-metre time trial

UCI Track Cycling World Cup, Manchester (UK)
Gold, Team pursuit

2010

UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, Baie-Comeau (Canada)
Gold, Road race
Gold, Time trial

2009

UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, Manchester (UK)
Gold, Individual pursuit
Gold, 500-metre time trial

UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, Bogogno (Italy)
Gold, Road race
Gold, Time trial

2008

Paralympic Games, Beijing (China)
Gold, Individual pursuit
Gold, Time trial

2007

UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, Bordeaux (France)
Gold, Individual pursuit
Bronze, 500-metre time trial

2006

UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, Aigle (Switzerland)
Silver, Road race
Silver, Time trial

2005

Para-cycling European Championships, Alkmaar (Denmark)
Gold, Individual pursuit
Gold, 500-metre time trial
Gold, Road race
Silver, Time trial