Maisie Summers-Newton (born 26 July 2002) is a British

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

, competing in S6 disability events. In August 2018, she took gold in the

IPC Swimming European Championships The World Para Swimming European Championships (World Para Swimming European Open Championships), known until 2018 as the IPC Swimming European Championships, are the European continental championships for swimming where athletes with a disabilit ...

SM6 200m

individual medley Medley swimming is a combination of four different swimming strokes ( freestyle (usually front crawl), backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly) into one race. This race is either swum by one swimmer as individual medley (IM) or by four swimmers as ...

and set a new world record at 2:59.60. She also holds the S6 100m Breaststroke world record in 1:32.16 which she achieved in May 2018 at the British Para-Swimming International Meet. She won two gold medals for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

at the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the Inte ...

Career

Summers-Newton took gold at the

2019 World Para Swimming Championships The 2019 World Para Swimming Championships was the tenth edition of the World Para Swimming Championships run by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). The championships were held from February to June in seven countries across five contine ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England. She created a new world record for the SM6 200m Individual Medley when she beat Yelyzaveta Mereshko from

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. The record had been set earlier that year by Summers-Newton in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. In April 2021, at Sheffield's

Ponds Forge Ponds Forge International Sports Centre is a leisure complex in Sheffield, England. It has an Olympic-sized swimming pool with 2,600 seating capacity, a family and children's pools (50 m Competition pool and 25 metre diving pit ...

sports centre, Summers-Newton came second in points in the freestyle swimming to

Grace Harvey Grace Harvey (born 31 August 1998) is a British Paralympic swimmer, and European and British record holder, who specializes in the breaststroke. Career Harvey is a British para-swimmer competing in the S6 SB5 SM6 classification for swimmers wi ...

and beat Ellie Simmonds by 4.2 seconds. In July, she was named as part of the Great Britain team to compete at the postponed

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Japan. In 2021 Summers-Newton also set a European record for the 100m breaststroke SB6 with a time of 1:32.34. At the Paralympics, she won gold in the 200m individual medley, setting a new world record of 2:56.68 in the process. She also won gold in the 100m breaststroke and fourth in the 400m freestyle. Summers-Newton competed at the

2022 World Para Swimming Championships The 2022 World Para Swimming Championships was the 11th edition of the World Para Swimming Championships, an international swimming competition for athletes with a disability. It was held in Madeira from 12 to 18 June. The competition was origin ...

Funchal Funchal () officially Funchal City (), is the capital, largest city and a Municipality (Portugal), municipality in Portugal's Madeira, Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it ...

, Portugal, where she won two gold medals. One in the 200m individual medley and another in the 400m freestyle. At the Mixed freestyle relay 49pts, she came 6th with Alice Tai, James Hollis and Oliver Carter. During the 100m breaststroke SB6 heats, Summers-Newton broke her own European record with a time of 1:32.16, and in the finals she got her third gold. She won gold at the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England betw ...

for Team England during the 100m breaststroke, with a time of 1:32.72 - 10.57 seconds ahead of second place. At the British Para-Swimming Winter National Meet 2022 at the

Tollcross International Swimming Centre The Tollcross International Swimming Centre is a swimming pool and leisure centre in Glasgow. It hosted the Swimming (sport), Swimming events at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and will host it once more in 2026 Commonwealth Games, 2026. The centre ...

in Glasgow, Summers-Newton set four new world records. They were set in the 100m freestyle (S6), 200m individual medley (SM6) and 100m breaststroke (SB6) and the 400m freestyle (S6) events. At the

2023 World Para Swimming Championships The 2023 World Para Swimming Championships was the 12th edition of the World Para Swimming Championships, an international swimming competition for swimmers with disabilities. It was held in Manchester, Great Britain from 31 July to 6 August 202 ...

at the

Manchester Aquatics Centre The Manchester Aquatics Centre, abbreviated MAC, is a public List of water sports, aquatics sports facility south of the city centre of Manchester, England, north of the main buildings of the University of Manchester near Manchester Metropolit ...

, she won two gold medals and a silver medal. On 2 August she won gold in the 200m medley, a silver on 3 August in the 400m freestyle, and gold on 5 August in the 100m breaststroke, where she set a European record of 1:31.34. Summers-Newton represented Great Britain for the second time at the

2024 Summer Paralympics The 2024 Summer Paralympics (), also known as the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games (), and branded as Paris 2024, were the 17th Summer Paralympic Games, an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event governed by the International P ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where she retained her title in the 200m individual medley with a time of 2:56.90 - 5.6 seconds faster than American swimmer Ellie Marks who won silver.

Honours and awards

She was nominated for the 2018 BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year, joining a shortlist of 10 other British athletes. Her accounts on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

and

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

are verified. In 2021, she appeared in

The Beano ''The Beano'' (formerly ''The Beano Comic'') is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it published its 4000th issue in August 2019. Popular and ...

's special BeONE edition, along with other sporting heroes like

Emma Raducanu Emma Raducanu ( , ; born 13 November 2002) is a British professional tennis player. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 10 by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA, and is the current British No. 1. Raducanu was the 2021 US Ope ...

and

Matty Lee Matthew Lee (born 5 March 1998) is a retired British elite diver and Olympic gold medallist. Adept in both individual and synchronised diving, and across both 3-metre springboard and platform, Lee won the gold medal in 10-metre platform at t ...

. Summers-Newton was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to swimming. She received her MBE from

Anne, Princess Royal Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950) is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of King ...

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

on 12 October 2022. Just before the start of the

in July, she met

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

(Prince Charles at the time) with

Courtney Tulloch Courtney James Matthew Winston Tulloch (born 6 October 1995) is a currently active English international artistic gymnast, representing Great Britain and England since 2012, and is a specialist in still rings and vault. Tulloch is the double C ...

as the then prince toured the Athletes' Village. On 17 November 2022, Summers-Newton won the

Citi Citigroup Inc. or Citi (stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company based in New York City. The company was formed in 1998 by the merger of Citicorp, the bank holding company for Citibank, and ...

Disability Sportswoman of the Year award.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Summers-Newton, Maisie 2002 births 21st-century English women Living people British female medley swimmers Swimmers with dwarfism World record holders in paralympic swimming Paralympic swimmers for Great Britain S6-classified para swimmers British female breaststroke swimmers Place of birth missing (living people) Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2024 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic bronze medalists for Great Britain Members of the Order of the British Empire Medalists at the World Para Swimming Championships Medalists at the World Para Swimming European Championships Swimmers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games gold medallists in swimming Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Paralympic medalists in swimming English female breaststroke swimmers English female medley swimmers English female freestyle swimmers British female freestyle swimmers Sportspeople from Northamptonshire 21st-century English sportswomen