Thomas Young walked away from Tokyo a Paralympic champion and earning praise from his idol Usain Bolt.
With the world at his feet, an untimely trip stalled his progress.
But now back to 100 percent and less than six months out from the Paralympics in Paris, the young T38 sprinter is dreaming of gold – and much more.
“I want to defend my title, that is the main thing, to go in there and defend my title,” said Young, speaking as an ambassador for Aldi’s ‘Get Set to Eat Fresh’ campaign which aims to help children aged 5 – 14 develop the skills required to cook nutritious, affordable meals.
“As I progress throughout the year, I really want to be getting the world record as well to be the world record holder.
“I have the World Championships in the middle of May, so I’ll hopefully fly to Japan in about four weeks and compete in six. I think having a big race so close to a Paralympics is good because it offers me a chance to run competitively against my rivals.”
Young arrived in Tokyo in 2021 as the reigning world champion over 100m and backed up that performance by taking gold in style on his Paralympic debut.
His performance caught the eye, with the legendary Bolt throwing his weight behind Young, who expressed his dream of matching and even surpassing the Jamaican in terms of sustained success.
Young was looking to add Commonwealth glory to his collection in 2022, but a fall in the weeks leading up to the competition dashed those hopes.
Young suffered minor bone and ligament damage in the lower leg as the result of that fall, and it was only towards the tail end of last year that he really started to get back to his best.
“We had a really good 2022 up until I had an injury from a fall in a race,” he explained.
“That took a while to fix properly but now I’m fully, fully recovered, things are looking excellent as we head towards Kobe (for the Worlds) and the big one in Paris.
“I got injured from a fall after a race, I had a few small injuries from that trip. It took me a while to get my body back to feeling as it was before. With my coach and support team, things are now looking excellent.
“It was probably only August or September last year that my body felt back to 100%, so in time for winter training ahead of Paris.
“You have high expectations after winning such a big race. To have to put those expectations on hold for a couple of years is difficult, but now that I’m back to my best, I can’t wait to be out in Paris in a few months.”
Young has had to bide his time since his Tokyo glory. Now back to his best, he is ready to shine on the biggest stage once again.
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