Joanna Robertson said that her sporting life has been a “tremendous journey”, with the next stop the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, where she is targeting gold in the T54 1500m and 400m wheelchair races.
Seven years ago, the Aberdeenshire athlete was paralysed from the waist down after a car accident. Before that, she had been a keen but not competitive swimmer.
After the accident, her physiotherapist encouraged her to get back into sport and one role model in particular captured her imagination.
“I remember at the time, she showed me Sammy Kinghorn racing in the Olympics”, the 24-year-old said.
When I saw that, I really wanted to give that a go. So that’s when I first tried out with wheelchair racing.”
Fellow Scot Kinghorn is a three-time world champion and the 30-year-old won Paralympic gold in the T53 100m class in Paris two years ago.
“Wheelchair racing offers so much in the way of challenges, goals and ambitions,” Robertson suggested. “I never was competitive, but it was when I became injured that I got the challenge.
“I thought, ‘oh, I want to see what I can do wheelchair racing’. I haven’t looked back since. I’ve done a lot of road races and then challenged the track work.
“My coach, Philip Owens, has been keeping me on the right track. It’s been a tremendous journey.
“I have been doing a lot of the marathon races where I went and competed in the London Marathon, Shanghai Marathon. I competed abroad in Switzerland quite a few times. This year, we were down in Australia for their summer, which was incredible.
“I’m very privileged and lucky to be able to do the sport that I love full-time as well.”