Sophie Thornhill (born 9 February 1996) is a visually impaired English former

racing cyclist Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling spo ...

who competed in

para-cycling Para-cycling (or paracycling/para cycling) is the sport of cycling (sport), cycling adapted for cyclists who have various disability, disabilities. It is governed by the (UCI). The sport consists of seven different events which include Road bicy ...

tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which two or more animals, machines, or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. ''Tandem'' can also be used more generally to refer to any group of persons or objects w ...

track events. She is a double world champion, with pilot Rachel James, and a double Commonwealth gold medallist, with pilot Helen Scott, in the tandem sprint and 1 km time trial events. In April 2014, she set world records in the tandem sprint and 1 km time trial, piloted by James. She retired from competition in 2020.

Biography

Thornhill comes from

Poynton Poynton is a town in the civil parish of Poynton-with-Worth, in the Cheshire East district and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England; from 1974 to 2009 it was in Macclesfield district. It is located on the easternmost fringe of the Cheshi ...

near

Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...

in Cheshire. She attended Poynton High School, also attended by para-cyclist Sarah Storey, and

Loughborough College Overview Loughborough College is a large general further education college in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It provides both further education (FE) and higher education (HE) courses on a single campus. The colleg ...

. She has only 7–9% vision owing to

oculocutaneous albinism Oculocutaneous albinism is a form of Albinism in humans, albinism involving the human eye, eyes (''wikt:oculo-#Prefix, oculo-''), the human skin, skin (''-wikt:cutaneous#Adjective, cutaneous''), and the hair. Overall, an estimated 1 in 20,000 peo ...

, which causes visual impairment. She met the para-cyclist Anthony Kappes, also visually impaired, via her uncle; he encouraged her to train as a track cyclist. Thornhill started racing as an adult in May 2013, aged 17. She raced as the stoker on the back of a

, with the front position occupied by a pilot with normal vision. She was initially piloted by English cyclist Helen Scott, with whom she won three British events. In September 2013, she switched to the Welsh cyclist Rachel James as her pilot. Her international debut came with James in December at the International Paracycling Cup in Newport, Wales, where the pair won two gold medals; their time of 1:09.446 in the 1 km time trial missed the world record by 0.73 seconds. Her first major international competition was the

UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships The UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships are the world championships for track cycling where athletes with a physical disability compete, organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The Championships were earlier administered by ...

Aguascalientes Aguascalientes, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Aguascalientes, is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. At 22°N and with an average altitude of above sea level it is pre ...

, Mexico, in April 2014. Thornhill and James won the gold medal in the tandem 1 km time trial; their time of 1:05.912 broke the world record by a little under 3 seconds. The pair won gold in the sprint, beating the New Zealand pair Emma Foy and Laura Fairweather 2–0 in the semi-final, and the Australian pair Brandie O'Connor and Breanna Hargrave 2–0 in the final. They also broke the world record in the qualifying round of the sprint with a flying start time over 200 metres of 10.854 seconds. Thornhill was selected for the English team at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

in Glasgow, Scotland, where para-cycling appeared for the first time; at 18, she was the track cycling team's youngest member. As James was competing for the Welsh team, Thornhill returned to Scott as her pilot to compete in the tandem sprint and 1 km time trial events. The pair won the gold medal in the sprint, beating the Australian Paralympic champion Felicity Johnson and pilot Holly Takos 2–0 in the semi-final, and the Scottish pair

Aileen McGlynn Aileen McGlynn (born 22 June 1973) is a Scottish paralympic tandem champion cyclist, tandem piloted until 2009 by Ellen Hunter but most regularly piloted by Helen Scott. Biography Born in Paisley and grew up in Glasgow, McGlynn was partia ...

and Louise Haston 2–0 in the final. They set the Commonwealth record during qualification, with a time of 11.277 seconds. The pair also won gold in the 1 km time trial, with a time of 1:08.187, a Commonwealth Games record. They beat silver medallists McGlynn and Haston by more than 1.5 seconds. Sarah Storey commented: "They had a superbly executed start – they have worked so hard on that aspect of their training – and with the turbo intervals they have done they were able to bring it home strongly." Thornhill reunited with James to compete in the 2014 British National Track Championships in September, where they won the mixed time trial and the 200-metre flying start time trial for blind and visually impaired riders. At the

2016 Rio Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 Sept ...

Thornhill won gold in the 1km time trial B and bronze in the individual pursuit B, on both occasions alongside Helen Scott. She 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

2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to cycling. In June 2020, Thornhill announced her retirement from competition, after 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 ...

were delayed by a year due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. She indicated that she would focus on her educational career, taking up a place to study history at

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Education ...

in September.

Palmarès

;2014 :1st Tandem B 1km time trial,

(with Rachel James) :1st Tandem B sprint, UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships (with Rachel James) :1st Tandem B sprint,

(with Helen Scott) :1st Tandem B 1km time trial, 2014 Commonwealth Games (with Helen Scott) :1st Para Cycling BVI mixed time trial,

British National Track Championships The British National Track Championships are a Track cycling event held annually and organised by the national governing body for track cycling (and other forms of cycling) in Great Britain, British Cycling (formerly the British Cycling Federat ...

(with Rachel James) :1st Para Cycling BVI 200m flying start time trial,

(with Rachel James) ;2015 :1st Tandem B sprint,

(with Helen Scott) :1st Para Cycling BVI 200m mixed standing start time trial,

(with Helen Scott) :1st Para Cycling BVI 200m flying start time trial,

(with Helen Scott)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thornhill, Sophie 1996 births Living people English female cyclists British female cyclists Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Cyclists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic bronze medalists for Great Britain People from Poynton Sportspeople from Cheshire Members of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of Manchester Metropolitan University Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games 21st-century English sportswomen Commonwealth Games gold medallists in cycling