Sophie's Profile

A sensational debut season for Sophie Unwin and her pilot Jenny Holl saw the duo selected for the Tokyo Paralympics, just a matter of weeks after they were brought together by the Great Britain para-cycling team. Since then, they have gone on to win two Paralympic medals and a staggering six world titles.

For Unwin, who is partially sighted due to Stargardt disease, her career trajectory was all the more startling, given that the Devon-based athlete had only been spotted at a Great Britain talent-ID session in August 2020.

With the Covid-19 pandemic keeping Unwin in Devon and limiting her to turbo training on her own, she initially targeted the Paris Paralympics in 2024 as her career goal.

By March, however, she was paired with Holl as her pilot and by June the two riders were making their competitive debut at the UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup in Ostend, Belgium where they placed third in both their chosen road disciplines, the time trial and road race.

They carried that form into the World Championships in Portugal just a few weeks later. where they enjoyed a spectacular success in the road race, taking gold. Fellow GB tandem Lora Fachie and Corrine Hall followed in third.

It instantly elevated the duo into the conversation for a Paralympic call-up which duly came for the delayed Tokyo Games.

The duo delivered incredible debut performances, coming home with a silver medal in the tandem road race and bronze in the individual pursuit in the velodrome.

Tokyo and beyond

Since the Tokyo Paralympic Games, the pair have gone from strength to strength, performing consistently across the UCI Para Road World Cup season, bringing home one gold and three silver medals over two rounds.

The 2022 UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships saw them crowned world champion in the tandem B time trial, later picking up a silver medal to add to their haul in the road race.

On the track, more success was delivered, showing their broad skillset, with bronze medals in the sprint and 1km time trial, before topping off the season with a world title in the Tandem B pursuit.

2023 continued to see success with one win and three silver medals across the para-cycling road world cup series. Their shining moment came at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships which saw them win an incredible three world titles on the track, in the first time the Olympic and Paralympic programmes were combined at a world championships. They followed this up on the roads of Dumfries and Galloway with a silver in the time-trial and a bronze medal in the road race, capping off a fantastic season for the pairing.  

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