Speaker
Lauren Steadman
Lauren Steadman is the current Paralympic Champion in the Women’s Individual PTS5 race, three-time World Champion and seven-time European Champion.
About Lauren Steadman
Lauren was born missing her lower right arm, however this has only challenged her to become the very best version of herself as she continues to overcome any barriers in her path as she swims, bikes and runs her way to success.
Lauren originally started her sporting career as a swimmer and participated in two Paralympic Games – London 2012 and Beijing 2016 – as a swimmer. She made her Paralympics debut in Beijing when she was just 15 years old. In her second Paralympic Games appearance in London, Lauren qualified for the final of both the 100m freestyle S9 and the 400m freestyle S9.
Lauren first got into the sport of triathlon after her uncle, who is a triathlete, suggested she should try it. She entered her first triathlon, the British Championships, in 2011 and finished second.
During Lauren’s transitional journey from swimmer to triathlete, she has been hugely successful. Lauren has been crowned World Champion on three occasions (2014, 2015, 2018) and is a seven-time European Champion (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017). Lauren has also proudly represented Team GB in the sports’ inaugural entry to the Paralympic Games at Rio 2016 where Lauren achieved the Silver medal after missing a swim marker buoy and having to swim back 25m to round it which cost her the lead and Gold medal. So five years later, and her heart still set on Gold, she was back and stronger than ever at Tokyo 2020. She brought home the Gold medal for Team GB with a stunning performance in the heat and humidity of Tokyo. It was the culmination of a 16 year dream.
Not only is Lauren an incredible triathlete, she has also achieved huge academic successes, with a degree in Bachelor of Arts in Psychology where she gained a First Class Honours. She then quickly followed that up with a Masters in Business Management from the University of Portsmouth. In the very near future, she will start a PhD in Psychology at Cambridge University.
Aside from her sporting and academic achievements, Lauren has also shown her talents on the big screen, where she competed, and successfully won, S.A.S: Who Dares Wins TV programme. This show only amplified the grit, strength of character and determination of Lauren. Another life-time achievement for Lauren was her appearance on Strictly Come Dancing in 2018 where she waltzed her way to the quarter-finals.
In all aspects of life, Lauren has pushed herself to continually strive for excellence and when challenges occur she swims, cycles and runs head first into them.
