Sophie Megan Hahn, (born 23 January 1997) is a parasport athlete from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

competing mainly in T38 sprint events. In 2013, she qualified for 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, f ...

, selected for the T38 100m and 200m. She took the gold in the 100m sprint, setting a new world record. In 2018, she won the gold medal in the T38 100 metres for women at the Commonwealth Games; in doing so she became the first female track and field athlete to hold gold medals in the same event from the World Championships, Paralympic Games, European Championships and Commonwealth Games, mirroring in parasports the achievements of fellow Paralympian Dan Greaves, and Olympic champions

Daley Thompson Francis Morgan Ayodélé Thompson, (born 30 July 1958), better known as Daley Thompson, is a British former decathlete. He won the decathlon gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984, and broke the world record for the event four tim ...

Linford Christie Linford Cicero Christie (born 2 April 1960) is a Jamaican-born British former sprinter. He is the only British man to have won gold medals in the 100 metres at all four major competitions open to British athletes: the Olympic Games, the World ...

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, Jonathan Edwards and

Greg Rutherford Gregory James Rutherford MBE (born 17 November 1986) is a retired British track and field athlete who specialised in the long jump. He represented Great Britain at the Olympics, World and European Championships, and England at the Commonwealth ...

Career history

Hahn, who has

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 sens ...

, came into athletics at the age of 15. Enthused by 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 ...

in London, her older brother, knowing of her pace as a runner encouraged her to seek an athletics club. Her mother got in touch with her nearest club and Hahn was called in for trials and accepted by coach Joseph McDonnell. Her first competitive races occurred in 2013, and in the Charnwood Athletics warm up she took the 100m and 200m races. After entering several tournaments in June, she broke onto the British sprinting scene by taking first place at the England Athletics Senior Disability Championships, winning both 100m (13.27s) and 200m (27.88s). Selected for the IPC World Championships in Lyon in the T38, Hahn was entered in both the 100m and 200m in the T38 classification. On 21 July, she won her qualifying heat of the 200m with a time of 27.56. In the final she was beaten by Brazil's Verônica Hipólito, but held on to take the silver medal. On 23 July she qualified for the 100m sprint, this time coming in second. The next day, on the final, Hahn ran a world record time of 13.10s, beating Hipolito into second place. Hahn won the 100m as the only athlete starting from a standing position. In May 2014, Hahn's world record was broken by Russia's Margarita Goncharova. However, just 24 hours later, Hahn broke it back in Loughborough taking her personal best down to 13.04 in the process. In her first ever IPC European Championships, Hahn won three silver medals in Swansea. The Loughborough-based athlete finished narrowly behind Goncharova in the 100m and the 400m – only her second run over the distance. The quartet of

Olivia Breen Olivia "Livvy" Breen (born 26 July 1996) is a Welsh Paralympian athlete, who competes for Wales and Great Britain mainly in T38 sprint and F38 long jump events. She qualified for the 2012 Summer Paralympics and was selected for the T38 100m a ...

, Bethany Woodward, Hahn and Jenny McLoughlin were narrowly edged out by the Russian team in the T35-38 4 × 100 m, but set a national record of 53.84 in the process. In 2018, Hahn had her impairment classification questioned by the father of a rival,

. At a Parliamentary select committee, Michael Breen claimed Hahn had been misclassified and was getting an unfair advantage. In June 2021 she was among the first dozen athletes chosen for the UK athletics team at the postponed 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo.

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hahn, Sophie 1997 births English female sprinters Living people World record holders in para-athletics English disabled sportspeople Sportswomen with disabilities Track and field athletes with cerebral palsy Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic silver medalists for Great Britain Members of the Order of the British Empire Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games World Para Athletics Championships winners Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Paralympic athletes for Great Britain British Athletics Championships winners Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games