Lauren Rowles

Rowles, who is from Cofton Hackett, Bromsgrove District, attended North Bromsgrove High School.[3] At the age of 13 she suddenly developed transverse myelitis (a condition in which the spinal cord is inflamed), which left her with no feeling below her chest.[4] She decided to take up Paralympic sport while watching coverage of the 2012 Summer Paralympics during a stay in Stoke Mandeville Spinal Injuries Unit.[5]

Rowles completed her A-levels at King Edward VI College, Stourbridge,[6] and is currently studying law at Oxford Brookes University.[5]

Rowles competed as a wheelchair racer before switching to rowing. She took up the sport in November 2012 and competed in T54 events.[3] In 2014, she was the England under-16s champion at 100 m, 200 m and 1,500 m. She represented England at the 2014 Commonwealth Games,[7] where she was the youngest track and field athlete in the England team at the age of 16.[3] She reached the final of the T54 1500 m, finishing ninth.[8]

Rowles took up rowing in early 2015.[9] She quickly teamed up with Laurence Whiteley, who had been searching for a suitable partner to compete with for over two years.[10] They competed at the 2015 World Rowing Championships, winning the silver medal in the trunk-arms mixed double sculls.[9] She and Whiteley competed at their first Paralympics in 2016, where they set a world record in the heats,[11] and won gold in the final.[12]