Katie Crowhurst

Katie Crowhurst (born 8 April 2004 ) is a British visually impaired para athlete who has competed internationally for Great Britain in both para swimming and paratriathlon.

Crowhurst is the daughter of Lucette and Andrew Crowhurst, and has one elder brother Samuel Crowhurst.

Crowhurst was born with autosomal dominant congenital nystagmus and cataracts with Anterior Segment Developmental Anomalies (ASDA) with ectopia pupillae and Zonular weakness.

These conditions resulted in significant visual impairment from birth.

Crowhurst attended Wessex Primary School and Cox Green Secondary School in Maidenhead and went on to study A-Levels at The Henley College Oxon.

Crowhurst's mother took her to the pool as a baby.

She loved the water and was always very confident in it.

When she was a toddler she attended learn to swim lessons at her local pool.

By the time she was 5 she could swim some lengths in the deep pool unaided.

During a family holiday to Centre Parcs in 2009 a lifeguard was impressed at the 5 year old's swimming ability and this was enough to encourage the family to enquire back home about joining the local competitive swim club.

Crowhurst joined Maidenhead Marlins that September in their stroke development section.

However, it wasn't until Crowhurst was 8 that she finally got a place in one of the club's competitive swim squads alongside the likes of Tom Dean.

At the age of 9, Crowhurst had her first taste of para-swimming when her parents took her to a regional disability swimming 'have a go' event.

It was here that Crowhurst's talent was picked up and she was encouraged to enter the Disability Swimming Nationals that November (2013) in Sheffield.

Crowhurst was the youngest swimmer there and she got disqualified in two of her 4 events and she didn't win any medals.

It was a huge learning curve but she wasn't put off and In the following March (still only 9) Crowhurst attended the 2014 National Junior Disability Swimming Championships.

Here Crowhurst competed only against children up to 13 and this time she had more success; she came away with 5 Gold medals.

In the Summer of 2014 Crowhurst qualified for and competed in 3 events at the ASA National Swimming Championships Youth, Open and MC and in March 2015 aged 10 She attended her first British Para Swimming International meet held in Glasgow.

In December 2015 Crowhurst underwent her IPC international classification being placed in the S13, SB13 and SM13 classes.

At the Berkshire and South Buckinghamshire County Swimming Championships On 6 February 2016 Crowhurst broke the British Record for the Female S13 Short Course 200m butterfly she would then go on to break the record another 4 times over the next 5 years.

In March 2016 at the British Para International meet Crowhurst made it through to 4 finals with her best result being in the Women's MC 100m back in 11th place overall.

Crowhurst was able to bring this event on further by taking the bronze medal in the Women's MC 100m backstroke at the ASA English National Summer Championships 2016 held at Ponds Forge Sheffield, England - aged just 12 years old.

Crowhurst retained her Women's MC 100m backstroke bronze medal position the following summer at the 2017 Swim England National Summer Meet alongside a second bronze medal in the Women's MC 200m IM.

On 14 January 2018 at the Berkshire and South Buckinghamshire County Swimming Championships Crowhurst broke the long-standing British Long Course record for the Women's SM13 400m Individual Medley.

The previous record had been set 31 years before in Moscow.

Crowhurst would then go on two months later to break the record again by joust over 5 seconds at the WDSC Long Course Premier Open Meet.

At the Swim England National Summer Meet 2018 at 14 years old Crowhurst put on an outstanding performance to claim a Women's MC medal on every night of the 5 day competition.

100m free gold, 50m free silver, 400m free bronze, 100m fly bronze, and for a third year running 100m backstroke bronze

Crowhurst's performances of 2018 gained her selection on British Para Swimming's World Class Programmes podium Potential Squad for the 2018/2019 season.

Crowhurst would remain on British Para Swimmings World Class Podium Potential Squad for a further two seasons until December 2021 where She chose to switch focus to Paratriathlon.

On 27 January 2019 Crowhurst set the Women's S13 Long Course 1500m freestyle British record At the Berkshire and South Buckinghamshire County Swimming Championships.

At the British Para Swimming International meet/World Series event held in Glasgow from the 25th to 28 April 2019 Crowhurst claimed Gold Medals as Top British Junior performance in both 400m freestyle and 100m backstroke.

From the 6th to 9 June 2019 Crowhurst competed as part of Team GBR at the Berlin leg of the World Para Swimming World Series; here Crowhurst won an international silver medal in the Women's Youth 50m backstroke.

In December 2019 Crowhurst was named as part of Great Britain's selected team for the forthcoming World Para Swimming European Championships due to be held in Madeira 17th to 23 May 2020.

Unfortunately due to the global COVID-19 pandemic the world para swimming European championships did not take place in 2020 as planned and instead in England most swimming pools closed and for periods of time throughout 2020 and 2021 people were asked to stay at home.

Crowhurst had to find alternative ways to maintain her fitness during this period and she took to open water swimming, cycling and running.

It was during this time that Crowhurst discovered a love for the sport of Paratriathlon.

From January 2021 to April 2021 Crowhurst moved to Manchester to train at the National Performance centre under 'stage two' of the DCMS elite sport return to training guidance.

Under stage 3 of the 'elite and professional sport' DCMS guidance.

Crowhurst competed in the Manchester International Swim Meet (12 to 14 February 2021), the Manchester Invitation Meet (12 to 14 March 2021) and the British Para Swimming International meet (8th to 11 April 2021) which were the first domestic swimming competitions hosted in Great Britain since the first national lockdown in March 2020.