Nine years of success

Charlotte Henshaw came close to glory at her first Paralympics in Beijing back in 2008, finishing fourth in her specialist SB6 100m breaststroke event.

At that time Charlotte had not finished on the podium at a major international championships, but she soon put that right to start a long trail of success that has continued almost unabated right through to today.

A year later she claimed gold in the IPC European Swimming Championships in Reykjavik, Iceland - narrowly missing out on further medals with fourth places in the S8 400m freestyle and the SM8 200m individual medley. 

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

There was world success in 2010 at Eindhoven with a silver medal in her specialist event, a medal she emulated at the European Championships in Berlin in 2011.

That set Charlotte up for the eagerly-anticipated home Paralympics in London four years ago, where she claimed silver. Having set a new Paralympic record of 1:39.64 in the qualifying heats of the SB6 100m breaststroke, she missed out on gold by 0.03 seconds.

A world bronze in Montreal in 2013 was followed by her only blank year for major medals when illness struck in 2014.

However, she blasted back in style last year, claiming another world silver in Glasgow, and this year Charlotte went one better, reclaiming her European 2009 title in Madeira to effectively earn selection for Rio.

Related topics: