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26
Jul
Harrogate woman makes Paralympic powerlifting squad
A Harrogate woman will represent Great Britain at this year’s Paralympic Games in Paris.
Charlotte McGuinness, 22, will sport the Team GB uniform in the women's 55kg para powerlifting event next month.
This will be her first time at the Paralympic Games, but McGuinness is no stranger to success within the sport, despite taking it up professionally only five years ago.
Just two years into her developmental training with Paralympics GB, in 2021, McGuinness placed second and third in two divisions at the Manchester Para Powerlifting World Cup.
She also took home fifth place at the 2024 Para Powerlifting World Cup in Georgia last month.
McGuinness today told the Stray Ferret it felt “very surreal”, adding she’s dreamed of this moment since watching the 2012 Paralympics in London.
I worked my hardest to be where I am today, so I feel very proud to be able to say I’m going to be a Paralympian.
Charlotte McGuinness at a recent competition.
She trains five times per week at home in Darley and at David Lloyd in Harrogate, as well as at the home of para powerlifting GB in Loughborough several times a month.
She said on social media yesterday:
This journey has been nowhere near easy, I have made sacrifices and had to overcome obstacles to be where I am today, and there have been tears shed in and out of training.
This dream has been what has kept me going, along with hard work and discipline. I truly believed I was going to qualify leading into (sic) the games, as I believe that if you can see your dream and then believe in it, you can achieve it. Turns out I did just that!
McGuinness will head to training camp on August 22, in Paris, before going to the Paralympic village on August 30.
The Paralympic Games will take place from August 28 to September 8.
The 2024 Paris Olympic Games begins today. You can read our profile on Harrogate’s hopeful George Mills now, and look out for another feature on our homegrown Olympians coming tomorrow.
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