The British Elite Athletes Association (BEAA) has nominated four members for its Athletes’ Athlete of the Month award for August.
Injury comebacks, charity fundraising, medals and world records have all been recognised in this month’s shortlist, which includes Will Bayley (para-table tennis), Will Bjergfelt (para-cycling), Hector Pardoe (swimming), Jazmin Sawyers (athletics).
The winner will be chosen by BEAA members, elite British athletes funded by UK Sport’s World Class Programme.
Will Bayley kicks off our shortlist after winning a remarkable four gold medals in August. The world number one began with victory in the Class 7 singles at the ITTF World Para Future tournament before securing a trio of golds at the ITTF World Para Elite event. There, the 37-year-old won the Class 7 singles, as well as the Class 14 men’s doubles alongside Theo Bishop and the Class 14 mixed doubles with Bly Twomey. Will later revealed in an Instagram post that this success followed a period of work to address mental health challenges and declared his singles victories as the biggest of his career.
Joining him on the shortlist is para-cyclist Will Bjergfelt, who broke the Men’s C5 UCI hour record. Will covered a distance of 51.471km, 3.902km further than the previous record, which had stood for 11 years, to become the first para-cyclist to break the 50km mark.
Hector is nominated after he became the first person to swim the largest lakes in England, Scotland and Wales inside 24 hours. Inspired by the Three Peaks walking challenge, the 24-year-old open water swimmer swam the lengths of Lake Windermere, Loch Lomond and Lake Bala to raise money and awareness of water pollution in the UK. So far, he has raised £8,000 for Surfers Against Sewage.
Jazmin makes the shortlist after winning long jump gold at the Novuna UK Athletics Championships following a 20-month injury layoff due to a ruptured Achilles. The victory came just three months after her return and secured the 31-year-old’s place at the World Athletics Championships in September. “To have the title back and perform well in front of this British Champs crowd means the world to me, especially after the injury and being forced to take a year out,” Jazmin said as she claimed a fifth UK title.
Elite athletes can vote for their Athlete of the Month by heading to their latest BEAA email, with the winner to be confirmed shortly.
Good luck to all four nominees!
