Sophie Thornhill
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Born | [1] Poynton, Cheshire, England[2] |
9 February 1996 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 5 ft 5 in (165 cm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 60 kg (130 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Current team | Boot Out Breast Cancer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Discipline | Track | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Role | Stoker | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rider type | Sprinter | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Amateur team(s) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SportCity Velo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Professional team(s) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Boot Out Breast Cancer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Infobox last updated on 21 March 2016 |
Sophie Thornhill (born 9 February 1996)[1] is a visually impaired English racing cyclist who competes in para-cycling tandem track events. She is a double world champion, with pilot Rachel James, and a double Commonwealth gold medallist, with pilot Helen Scott, in the tandem sprint and 1 km time trial events. In April 2014, she set world records in the tandem sprint and 1 km time trial, piloted by James.
Biography
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.[14] 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][17] They set the Commonwealth record during qualification, with a time of 11.277 seconds.[16][18] The pair also won gold in the 1 km time trial, with a time of 1:08.187, a Commonwealth Games record.[18][19][20] They beat silver medallists McGlynn and Haston by more than 1.5 seconds.[19][20] 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."[21]
Thornhill reunited with James to compete in the 2014 British National Track Championships in September, where they won the mixed time trial[22] and the 200-metre flying start time trial for blind and visually impaired riders.[23]
Palmarès
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- 2014
- 1st Tandem B 1km time trial, UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships (with Rachel James)
- 1st Tandem B sprint, UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships (with Rachel James)
- 1st Tandem B sprint, 2014 Commonwealth Games (with Helen Scott)
- 1st Tandem B 1km time trial, 2014 Commonwealth Games (with Helen Scott)
- 1st Para Cycling BVI mixed time trial, British National Track Championships (with Rachel James)
- 1st Para Cycling BVI 200m flying start time trial, British National Track Championships (with Rachel James)
- 2015
- 1st Tandem B sprint, UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships (with Helen Scott)[24]
- 1st Para Cycling BVI 200m mixed standing start time trial, British National Track Championships (with Helen Scott)[25]
- 1st Para Cycling BVI 200m flying start time trial, British National Track Championships (with Helen Scott)[26]
References
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- EngvarB from May 2015
- Use dmy dates from May 2015
- Pages using div col with unknown parameters
- 1996 births
- Living people
- Commonwealth Games competitors for England
- Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England
- Cyclists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
- English female cyclists
- People from Poynton
- Sportspeople from Cheshire