James' Profile

A multiple world champion across the tandem sprint events, Ball has already established a winning partnership with his latest pilot, Lewis Stewart, earning the duo selection for the delayed Tokyo Paralympics in 2021.

Ball, who also represented Great Britain at the Rio Paralympics five years earlier, became a world champion with Stewart at the 2020 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Milton, Canada.

In the sprint event, Ball edged out his countryman Neil Fachie, piloted by Matt Rotherham, to take the fourth World Championship gold of his career. In the 1km time trial, the positions were reversed as Fachie claimed first place, leaving the silver for Welshman Ball.

Born in Ponthir in Gwent, Ball started his sporting career as a swimmer, before moving to athletics. The visually-impaired athlete was in line to earn selection in track and field for ParalympicsGB at London 2012 before a hamstring injury ended those aspirations.

On his journey back to full fitness, Ball took part in turbo testing arranged by British Cycling, and his potential on a bike was discovered. Paired with experienced pilot Craig McLean, Ball took a bronze medal away from his first UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, in Montichiari, Italy in 2016.

Paralympic selection – and fifth place in the kilo – followed for Ball in Rio later that year, before a golden 2017 saw Ball and Rotherham win a sprint double at the World Championships in Los Angeles.

Further medals were collected at the 2018 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Rio as he came second in the 1km time trial and third in the sprint, before Ball represented Wales in the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, where he won silvers in his two events.

Ball’s ride with Pete Mitchell in the 1km time trial saw them edged out by Fachie and Rotherham, representing Scotland, but earned him headlines as it was Wales’ first medal of the Games.

By 2019, Ball was firmly established with Mitchell as his new pilot and the pair picked up the third World Championship gold medal of his career, winning the kilo in Apeldoorn, Netherlands.

In 2020 Ball teamed up with Stewart, and the partnership got off to a hugely promising start, with their two medals in Milton.

                                        

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