Athletics star Rebecca Scott not ruling out sporting switch

By Abi Curran, Sportsbeat

Sprinter and long jumper Rebecca Scott is going from strength to strength in athletics but is not ruling out a sporting switch later down the line.

The 17-year-old from Pirton ran a 13.66 seconds 100m personal best in June at the BWAA Grand Prix Series, hosted by Stoke Mandeville, as she targets Los Angeles 2028 to make her Games debut.

In 12 months, the T47 and F46 athlete hopes to get to Paris 2024 as a spectator, and will have one eye on the triathlon course as well as the athletics track.

Paratriathletes and Paralympic legends Claire Cashmore and Lauren Steadman will once again target the world stage in the French capital next year, and the A-level student believes she could one day follow in their footsteps.

“I really want to go and watch in Paris and make a holiday out of it, and watch loads of events," said Scott, who has been selected to be part of Aldi’s Rising Stars programme, an initiative with SportsAid that provides talented young athletes with financial support, recognition and personal development opportunities.

“The athletics is probably what I’m most interested in but I speak to Claire Cashmore and Lauren Steadman who do paratriathlon and also have one arm, so I would really want to go and watch that too.

“With Claire and Lauren too they both did sports before triathlon so I was thinking after I do athletics, I might try triathlon or cycling.

“It would be a bit easier being a full-time athlete and not at school because the training is so intense

“Competing in Paris next year is not that realistic for me especially because it’s A-level year, I’ll be focusing on getting the grades.”

The Bedford Modern School student has hopes of attending Loughborough University next year, where she can ramp up her training as part of the Paralympic Development Academy.

Scott, who came sixth in the 60m at the Birmingham World Indoor Tour Finals earlier this year, is part of Aldi’s Rising Stars in partnership with SportsAid.

Athletes on the programme receive funding to help towards costs such as travel, accommodation, equipment and nutrition, with Aldi also delivering workshop sessions on a range of topics to help nurture athletes for their sporting endeavours and beyond.

Scott added: “I’m hoping to go to Loughborough and get to do more training and more high-level coaching to focus on the 2028 Paralympics and be as prepared for that as I can be.

“I’ve trained a lot more this year and I’ve recently been able to get some new spikes.

“I travel quite a lot, especially to the para competitions and I get a monthly sports massage and a full body check-up to prevent my injuries.

“I get quite bad back problems from having uneven muscles because of my arm and that helps.

“It means my coaches can come to watch as well which helps me because, especially in long jump, you really need that specialised advice on the day which only they can provide in the moment.”

Aldi is the Official Supermarket Partner of Team GB and ParalympicsGB and have partnered with Team GB since 2015, ParalympicsGB since 2022 and will be supporting them through to Paris 2024.