Laura Sugar (born 7 February 1991) is a British Paralympic athlete who competes in sprint events under the T44 classification. Before taking up athletics Sugar represented Wales at

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

captaining the under-20s team. She has now switched to canoeing.

Personal career

Sugar was born in

Saffron Walden Saffron Walden is a market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and north of London. It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. The population was 15, ...

, England in 1991. She was born with talipes (club foot), which meant her foot was turned in. Sugar underwent surgery to correct the problem as a baby, but it left her with no movement in her ankle. She was educated at Newport Free Grammar before matriculating to the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

where she studied sports science. She followed this with a

Postgraduate Certificate in Education The Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE/PGCertEd) is a one- or two-year higher education course in England, Wales and Northern Ireland which provides training in order to allow graduates to become teachers within maintained schools. In ...

to qualify as a secondary school teacher. She took up a position at

Ashby School Ashby School, formerly known as Ashby Grammar School, is a co-educational day secondary school and sixth form in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, England. The school is situated in the centre of Ashby on two sites. History Ashby Grammar Sc ...

as a PE teacher, but left her position in 2015 to focus on her athletics training.

Hockey career

Sugar took up

while attending Newport Free Grammar, starting at the age of 12. She played as a youth for Saffron Walden, Cambridgeshire and was selected for trials for the East of England squad. This brought her to the attention of

Hockey Wales Hockey Wales ( cy, Hoci Cymru) is the national governing body for hockey in Wales. Established as the Welsh Hockey Union in 1996, by the merger of the Welsh Hockey Association (founded 1896) and the Welsh Women's Hockey Association (founded 1897 ...

who successfully recruited her to the Welsh youth squad due to her father's Welsh roots. She first played for Wales at the age of 17, and progressed through the age groups until she reached the senior levels, captaining the Wales under-20s which Sugar described as "one of my proudest moments through hockey".

Athletics career

During her hockey training the team's physio commented on Sugar's ankle impairment, stating that she should try out a Paralympic sport as she would be able to gain a classification. While watching the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

she noticed that the British discus thrower, Dan Greaves appeared to have "the same leg", and Sugar decided to explore her physio's advice. She attended a Paralympic sport's festival in Surrey and after considering cycling and athletics she decided to follow the latter. In February 2013 she had her first athletics trial and was informed that she would be flown out to Dubai in four weeks to be classified before competing at the Fazaa International, an IPC Grand Prix event. At the Grand Prix she ran in the 100m and 200m sprints, winning a silver and gold medal. Now a T44 classification athlete, Sugar had to decide on whether to continue her hockey career or switch to track and field. She chose athletics and spent the next ten months committing all her time outside of her teaching to her new training regime. Sugar's first major international competition came in July 2013 when she was selected as part of the Great Britain team to compete at the

2013 IPC Athletics World Championships The 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships was the biggest track and field competition for athletes with a disability since the 2012 Summer Paralympics. It was held in Lyon, France, and lasted from 20 to 28 July. Around 1,100 athletes competed, ...

in Lyon. In the Women's 100m (T44) she came through the heats to finish fifth in the finals. In the

200m The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a Sprint (running), sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run th ...

she finished fourth, just outside a podium finish. The following year she won her first international medals, collecting two bronze medals at 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 ...

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

, 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 ...

and

sprints. During 2014 and 2015 Sugar also entered

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

events. Her most notable result being at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

in Swansea where she came fourth with a distance of 4.27 metres. In the build-up to the

2016 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

in Rio, Sugar travelled to Doha to compete at her second World Championships. She was selected by the Great Britain management to co-captain the team, along with middle-distance runner Paul Blake. Sugar only competed in the 100 metres event, and her time of 14.86, way outside her personal best, was not enough to get her through the heats. The following year brought a return to success with two medals at the

2016 IPC Athletics European Championships The 2016 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 Israel. It was held in Grosseto, Italy and too ...

Grosseto Grosseto () is a city and ''comune'' in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the Province of Grosseto. The city lies from the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the Maremma, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the Ombrone river. It is the m ...

. She won a bronze in the

and a silver in the

, just a tenth of a second behind the winner

Irmgard Bensusan Irmgard Bensusan (born 24 January 1991) is a South African born Paralympic sprinter who now competes for Germany, mainly in T44 classification events. Bensusan competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics where she won three silver medals in the 100, ...

of Germany. In July Sugar was confirmed as a member of the Great Britain team to compete at the Rio Paralympics. Sugar was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations ...

for services to canoeing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sugar, Laura Living people Sportspeople from Saffron Walden English female sprinters Track and field athletes with disabilities Sportswomen with disabilities Paralympic athletes for Great Britain English people with disabilities British disabled sportspeople Alumni of the University of Leeds People educated at Newport Free Grammar School 1991 births Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Canoeists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Paralympic canoeists for Great Britain Members of the Order of the British Empire Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships medalists in paracanoe