Sugden beats injury to earn Paris Paralympic selection
After recovering from an injury to be selected for the Paris Paralympics, powerlifter Louise Sugden hopes to claim a medal at a second consecutive Games.
The 40-year-old represented Great Britain in wheelchair basketball at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Paralympics before switching sports in 2017 and winning a “fairytale” bronze medal in powerlifting at Tokyo 2021.
A shoulder injury forced Sugden to miss the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and required surgery in September 2022, keeping her out of full training for nine months and putting her qualification for Paris in doubt.
To increase her chances of medaling in Paris, Sugden and her team decided she should move down a weight class from her usual 86kg event to the 79kg category. Despite her injury absence, she has successfully secured qualification for the Games.
“I didn’t have the time to get as strong as I needed to be able to lift and challenge for a medal in the 86kg,” she tells BBC Sport.
“I would need to lift around 136kg to be a medal contender, but in the 79kg event, bronze will be around 131kg. I lifted 128kg at my last competition and my PB [personal best] is 131kg, so that is what I have my eye on.
“If you had asked me a year ago if I would make it to Paris, I would have been in two minds because of the mountain I had to climb, so I am delighted to be able to go, both after the injury and only having three years to prepare.”
In the build-up to Paris, Sugden’s focus has been on trying to lose weight while maintaining her strength, which she admits has been difficult.
“After over seven years in the sport, I am still learning about the nutrition side of it. But I enjoy learning and being better and challenging myself,” she says.
“You have to focus on the timings of your meals and also on getting lots of protein to maintain muscle mass.
“It is a really difficult thing to do and it can feel pretty horrendous at the time because you are trying to train in a calorie deficit and that isn’t fun for anyone.
“It is a real art – one of my competitions this year went badly, the other went well and I have learned from it all.
“My family are very supportive – they know that when I am weight cutting, they can’t offer me cake, and I love cake, so they give me healthy alternatives instead.”
Sugden’s fellow Tokyo bronze medallist Olivia Broome is hoping to add to her medal haul, along with London and Rio bronze medallist Zoe Newson and Paralympic debutants Mark Swan, Matthew Harding, Liam McGarry and Charlotte McGuinness.
With each competitor having just three lifts, the pressure is on to maximise potential and earn a medal.
“You can only lift what you can lift,” says Sugden. “There is nothing magical you can do on competition day to make yourself stronger.
“I know what my competitors are likely to be able to lift but you just have to focus on yourself and hope you can put pressure on others.
“I’ve obviously lost time in the build-up, which makes it more challenging, and I’m not where I would want to be.
“I would like to finish in the top four. I would love to be on the podium, but I am realistic that it will be difficult. It doesn’t mean I can’t, but I will just do what I can do.”