Joanna Robertson says her sporting life has been a “tremendous journey”, with the next cease the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, the place she is concentrating on gold within the T54 1500m and 400m wheelchair races.
Seven years in the past, the Aberdeenshire athlete was paralysed from the waist down after a automotive accident. Before that, she had been a eager however not aggressive swimmer.
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After the accident, her physiotherapist inspired her to get again into sport and one position mannequin specifically captured her creativeness.
“I remember at the time, she showed me Sammy Kinghorn racing in the Olympics”, the 24-year-old instructed BBC Scotland.
“When I saw that, I really wanted to give that a go. So that’s when I first tried out with wheelchair racing.”
Fellow Scot Kinghorn is a three-time world champion and the 30-year-old received Paralympic gold within the T53 100m class in Paris two years in the past.
“Wheelchair racing offers so much in the way of challenges, goals and ambitions,” Robertson advised. “I never was competitive, but it was when I became injured that I got the challenge.
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“I believed, ‘oh, I need to see what I can do wheelchair racing’. I have not regarded again since. I’ve carried out numerous street races after which challenged the monitor work.
“My coach, Philip Owens, has been keeping me on the right track. It’s been a tremendous journey.
“I’ve been doing numerous the marathon races the place I went and competed within the London Marathon, Shanghai Marathon. I competed overseas in Switzerland fairly a couple of instances. This yr, we have been down in Australia for his or her summer time, which was unimaginable.
“I’m very privileged and lucky to be able to do the sport that I love full-time as well.”
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She says representing her homeland in Scotland this yr can be a profession spotlight, with Robertson chosen together with compatriots and fellow wheelchair racers Sean Frame and Ben Sandilands.
“It’s such a prideful moment to be able to put on the colours of your home and to represent your homeland,” Robertson stated. “It was a big day for me when I got that vest.
“To have my family and friends so shut by as properly and cheering us on. It will all the time give that additional push as properly that each athlete wants.
“We’re ramping up the training, making sure we’ve got loads of the sprints and the speed endurance in there as well and aiming for gold if we can.
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“That’s the plan. Is it sensible? Oh, we’ll make it sensible.”
Prior to becoming a full-time athlete, Robertson worked for the charity Spinal Injury Scotland.
“I wished to assist help those that are newly injured as a result of it is an entire new world for individuals,” she said. “I hope now I will be the inspiration that I wanted after I was first injured and after I was first entering into the game.
“I hope to give back what I gained from the other top athletes.”
Frame targets podium in new occasion
Robertson was talking as Team Scotland named its para athletics squad for the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games.
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Paralympic champions Ben Sandilands and Owen Miller are set to make their Commonwealth Games debuts whereas Birmingham 2022 silver medallist Sean Frame can also be included.
Also making his Team Scotland debut is Steven Stone within the T20 Long Jump.
Frame hopes to emulate his Birmingham success when he takes half in a “once in a lifetime opportunity” in Glasgow.
The 29-year-old took silver within the T53/54 marathon 4 years in the past and he’ll compete within the T54 1500m this time spherical.
“It’s a much shorter event,” he stated. “Obviously, you need to be a lot more on the ball when it comes to the event. You’ve got no margin for error.”
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Frame regarded again upon his 2022 Games as an “amazing experience”.
“It was the first competition I was at at that level, international wise,” he stated.
Of the upcoming Games, he stated: “Even though I’ve lived down in the Borders most of my life, I’m originally from Glasgow. My family will be able to see me compete. It means so much to me.
“It’s a as soon as in a lifetime alternative that only a few athletes get to expertise. I could not ask for a greater venue.
“It’s going to be a big challenge. I’m going to go out there and I’m aiming for a podium.”
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Fife’s Sandilands desires so as to add Commonwealth gold to the Paralympic gold he received for Team GB in Paris two years in the past.
The 22-year-old broke the world report within the French capital, posting a time of three:45.40 within the T2 1500m.
The Pitreavie middle-distance runner desires to raised that point in Glasgow, this time in a Team Scotland vest.
He says it is a “different feeling” operating for Scotland and that his watchword in coaching between now and the Games in the summertime is straightforward.
According to Ben, it is all about “focus”.