ULTIMATE recognition has been paid to teenage sports star Poppy Maskill’s high-rise achievements in 2024. The three-time Paralympic gold medallist has received the MBE in the New Year Honours list, for services to swimming. Poppy, 19, from Middlewich, is one of 15 golden gong winners from last summer’s Paris Games to be bestowed in this prestigious manner.
The honour from The King is a juicy big cherry on top of an avalanche of icing following an incredible year in the pool for Poppy, a former Northwich Centurions Swimming Club and Winsford Swim Team member. After winning Great Britain's first gold of the Paralympic Games in emphatic fashion - setting a world record in the women's S14 100m butterfly - she made international media headlines. But that was just the start, as Poppy went on to win golds in the women's S14 100m backstroke and the mixed S14 4x100m freestyle relay as well silvers in the women's S14 200m freestyle and 200m individual medley events.
No ParalympicsGB athlete came home from the French capital with more medals, and her success was marked by being one of her country’s two flagbearers for the closing ceremony. There was more success and recognition to come for Poppy, who is also a multiple world champion in the S14 intellectually impaired classification. Having become a household name thanks to her record-smashing exploits in Paris, she was honoured by the Sports Journalists’ Association.
The SJA named her as their Female Breakthrough Athlete of the.
