Who is Thomas Young? Meet the reigning Paralympic T38 100m champion
Somewhat appropriately for one of the best sprinters of his generation, things all happened rather fast for Thomas Young. Aged just 18, the speedster from Croydon exploded on to the scene, winning gold in the T38 100m and 200m at the 2018 European Championships in Berlin. He was still only 21 when he ran 10.94 in Tokyo to claim Paralympic gold. The disbelief and elation on his face was one of Tokyo’s great moments. ‘I think, when I crossed the line, I had no clue that I’d actually won,’ recalls Young. ‘It took quite a while to actually settle in and, a few minutes later when I was interviewed, I realised what I’d achieved.’
It was a huge blessing; a lifetime goal achieved at the first time of asking. But it was also something of a curse. ‘Coming into Tokyo, I had high expectations for myself, but I don’t think many others did,’ says Young. ‘Afterwards, I was of course the man to beat.’ A couple of challenging years followed, with injury from a fall in a race ruling him out of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022, and his bulletproof confidence was dented. But Young has been heartened by his recent form, which saw him pick up silver in the World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan, in May, then nudge his PB down to 10.93 at a meeting in Lee Valley in London in early June. Now, even this notably cool and unflappable character is struggling to contain himself ahead of Paris. Crowd-free Tokyo was the dress rehearsal; he thinks the production proper is about to begin.
‘I’ve spoken to friends and they all talk about how good London and Rio were, and that’s what’s coming,’ says Young .‘Full stadiums; all our friends and family there because it’s so close. It’s going to be great.’
Young, who has neurofibromatosis type 1 – a genetic condition that causes tumours to grow along the nervous system – is bright, scrupulously polite and thoroughly engaging. He ‘understands’ training a lot better these days, he says, learning how to adapt to take marginal gains from every session. And he speaks of being process-focused – trusting the big performances to come, rather than chasing specific times. That said, he’s got a firm eye fixed on the 10.74 world record in the strongly contested T38 class. Does he feel he can reach that level? ‘Certainly,’ he says, emphatically.
Young, who lives in the same Leicestershire village as fellow Paralympics GB athlete Livvy Breen (‘I was there first; she copied me,’ he jokes), says he’s drawn inspiration from both Olympians and Paralympians. ‘I was growing up when Usain Bolt was in his prime and I loved watching him win all his golds,’ says Young. ‘I’ve never met him but he did congratulate me on Twitter after my win in Tokyo, which was crazy.’ The other big influence has been Jonnie Peacock – Britain’s 100m T44 gold medallist in the London and Rio Paralympics. ‘It’s been great to learn from Jonnie, and to see what he’s done from London to Rio to Tokyo... and see him still running amazingly going into Paris.’
Working with hugely experienced Loughborough coach Joe McDonnell, Young has been assiduously fine-tuning his technique – focusing on his starts and top-end speed (‘making sure I don’t tense up’). With that manifestly coming together, he has some ominous words for his rivals in the T38 class: ‘I’m still only 23, but I’ve been in the sport for nearly six years now,’ he says. ‘I’m older, I’ve had more life experience. That’s massive, psychologically. Plus, this time I know how a Paralympics works. Hopefully, it can all fall into place in Paris.’
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