Sophie Thornhill

Thornhill comes from Poynton near Stockport in Cheshire. She attended Poynton High School, also attended by para-cyclist Sarah Storey.[1][3] She has only 7–9% vision owing to oculocutaneous albinism, which causes visual impairment.[1][3] She met the para-cyclist Anthony Kappes, also visually impaired, via her uncle; he encouraged her to train as a track cyclist.[1][3]

Thornhill started racing as an adult in May 2013, aged 17.[1] She races as the stoker on the back of a tandem, with the front position occupied by a pilot with normal vision.[3] She was initially piloted by English cyclist Helen Scott, with whom she won three British events.[3] In September 2013 she switched to the Welsh cyclist Rachel James as her pilot.[4] Her international debut came with James in December at the International Paracycling Cup in Newport, Wales, where the pair won two gold medals; their time of 1:09.446 in the 1 km time trial missed the world record by 0.73 seconds.[4][5]

Her first major international competition was the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Aguascalientes, Mexico, in April 2014.[1][6][7] Thornhill and James won the gold medal in the tandem 1 km time trial; their time of 1:05.912 broke the world record by a little under 3 seconds.[8] The pair won gold in the sprint, beating the New Zealand pair Emma Foy and Laura Fairweather 2–0 in the semi-final, and the Australian pair Brandie O'Connor and Breanna Hargrave 2–0 in the final.[1][9][10] They also broke the world record in the qualifying round of the sprint with a flying start time over 200 metres of 10.854 seconds.[1][11]

Thornhill was selected for the English team at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, where para-cycling appeared for the first time;[12][13] at 18, she was the track cycling team's youngest member. As James was competing for the Welsh team, Thornhill returned to Scott as her pilot to compete in the tandem sprint and 1 km time trial events.[12][13] The pair won the gold medal in the sprint, beating the Australian Paralympic champion Felicity Johnson and pilot Holly Takos 2–0 in the semi-final, and the Scottish pair Aileen McGlynn and Louise Haston 2–0 in the final.[14][15][16] They set the Commonwealth record during qualification, with a time of 11.277 seconds.[15][17] The pair also won gold in the 1 km time trial, with a time of 1:08.187, a Commonwealth Games record.[17][18][19] They beat silver medallists McGlynn and Haston by more than 1.5 seconds.[18][19] Sarah Storey commented: "They had a superbly executed start – they have worked so hard on that aspect of their training – and with the turbo intervals they have done they were able to bring it home strongly."[20]

Thornhill reunited with James to compete in the 2014 British National Track Championships in September, where they won the mixed time trial[21] and the 200-metre flying start time trial for blind and visually impaired riders.[22]

In June 2020 Thornhill announced her retirement from competition, after the 2020 Summer Paralympics were delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She indicated that she would focus on her educational career, taking up a place to study history at Manchester Metropolitan University in September.[23]

• Sophie Thornhill at the British Paralympic Association
• Sophie Thornhill at the International Paralympic Committee