Maddie Down, a para-sprinter and long jumper from Halesowen, says she feels more pressure from her college teachers than her athletics coaches as she prepares for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. The 18-year-old is taking her A-Levels this summer before competing in the T38 category for athletes with cerebral palsy or coordination impairments.
Balancing Studies and Sport
Down, who won two gold medals at the Trinbago 2023 Youth Commonwealth Games and represented Great Britain at the Paris Paralympics, admits the academic challenge is daunting. "I don't really know how I'm balancing my studies and training, to be honest. The pressure right now is from my teachers to do some work," she said. "I can't wait for the exams to be done. I only need to focus on exams for the next five weeks, whereas when I was doing my GCSEs, I had to focus on qualifying for Paris throughout them."
Previous Success and Future Goals
Down trains at the University of Birmingham. Reflecting on her Youth Commonwealth Games success, she said: "Going out as a team was amazing, but being able to go out and win two golds was extraordinary. Earlier that year I had a stress fracture in my back, so being able to come back from that and produce two golds was fantastic." She acknowledges the step up to a senior Games: "It's a completely different competition. It being a senior Games makes it a big challenge."
Learning from Paris
The Paris Paralympics were Down's first major senior competition. "It was great to be able to get a personal best at the Paralympic Games in two events and making two finals was a great learning experience," she said. "Then I had the World Championships last year—lots of lessons learnt from there, especially in the 100m. But being able to jump a PB and get over five metres really helped my confidence going into this season."
Competing Against a Champion
Among Team England's squad is 29-year-old Sophie Hahn, a two-time 100m Paralympic and seven-time world champion in the T38 category. Down unseated Hahn at this year's British Indoor Championships, finally claiming the T36 60m crown after consecutive second-placed finishes. "I've always looked up to Sophie ever since I started my athletics career. She is the best in our sport, so it's great to be following in her footsteps and to compete against her is a great honour," Down said.
She added: "We've competed together at the Paralympics before. It's such a great environment, so it's great to be competing with each other. Loads of my family are going to be able to come up. I've always enjoyed the cycling and netball, so I'm looking forward to that."
