Ben Rowlings (born 2 May 1996) is a British

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

who competes in sprint and middle-distance events in the T34 classification.

Personal history

Rowlings was born in

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

, England in 1996. He was delivered with the umbilical chord wrapped around his neck causing oxygen starvation, which resulted in Rowlings developing

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sensa ...

Athletics career

Rowlings first became involved in competitive sport as a teenager when he took up swimming. He competed at national level but switched to wheelchair racing at the age of 15 after he went to a British Athletics talent identification day. After gaining his classification in 2011 as a T34 athlete, Rowlings began competing at national meets. By 2013 Rowlings was appearing at senior meets and entered his first IPC Grand Prix. The next year he represented Great Britain at his first major international event, the

2014 IPC Athletics European Championships The 2014 IPC Athletics European Championships was a track and field competition for athletes with a disability open to International Paralympic Committee (IPC) affiliated countries within Europe, plus Azerbaijan and Israel. It was held in Swanse ...

in Swansea. There, he entered three events, taking the bronze medal in the 800m T34 in a time of 1:56.11. In 2015 Rowlings was selected to again represent Great Britain, this time at the IPC World Championships in Doha. Although he failed to take any medals, he came fourth in both the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

and

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the ...

races. 2015 also saw Rowlings set four British records in the same meet, when he broke the 100m, 200, 400, and 800m records at the IPC Grand Prix in Nottwil, Switzerland. The following year, in the build-up to the Summer Paralympics in Rio, Rowlings attended the 2016 European Championships in Grosseto. He medaled in all three events, improving on all his times from Swansea two years ago. He won the bronze medal in the

100m The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

400m The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

and 800m T34. In July Rowlings was named as part of the Great Britain team that would be travelling to Rio to compete in the Summer Paralympics. Rowlings competed in

athletics at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Athletics at the 2020 Summer Paralympics were held in the National Stadium in Tokyo. There was 167 medal events: 93 for men, 73 for women and one mixed event. It was the largest contest of the Games programme regarding athlete numbers and meda ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rowlings, Ben 1996 births Living people English male wheelchair racers British male wheelchair racers English male sprinters British male sprinters Paralympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Sportspeople from Shropshire