A trio of European champions have been included on the British Elite Athletes’ Association’s (BEAA) four-person shortlist for June’s Athletes’ Athlete of the Month award.
Lauren Henry (rowing), Laura Sugar (para-canoeing) and Henry Urand (para-triathlon) have all been nominated following continental triumphs, with teenage taekwondo star Lily Kingsley completing the line-up.
The winner will be decided by BEAA members - elite British athletes who receive funding from UK Sport’s World Class Programme.
It proved to be a month to remember for Lauren, who claimed three gold medals in June. The 23-year-old won the women’s single sculls at the European Rowing Championships, setting a new British record and a European Best Time in the process. She followed that up with two World Rowing Cup victories, winning by more than eight seconds in Varese before another comfortable triumph in Lucerne completed a fantastic month.
Lily earned her nomination after claiming a silver medal in only her second senior tournament. The 17-year-old, who is only training part-time while she completes college, exceeded all expectations to make the podium in the -53KG category at the G1 Luxembourg Open, which included an impressive victory over the No.2 seed in her second fight.
Laura is in contention after she triumphed at the ECA Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe European Championships. The reigning Paralympic and world champion, cruised to victory in the Czech Republic, winning by a margin of 1.747 seconds to claim her second continental title and reinforce her status as the leading women’s KL3 athlete.
Completing June’s shortlist is Henry, who won gold in the PTS3 division at the Europe Triathlon Para Championships. The reigning world champion found himself in eighth position after the swim. He came back strongly on the bike to put himself in contention for a medal, eventually winning by more than a minute ahead of Germany’s Max Gelhaar. That was the second medal of the month for Henry, who recorded another dominant victory at the World Para Series in Italy a week earlier, taking the gold two minutes ahead of his nearest challenger.
Elite athletes can vote for their Athlete of the Month by heading to their latest BEAA email, with the winner to be confirmed shortly.
Good luck to all four athletes!
