Paralympian Ellie Challis' former coach hopes that her success can inspire the upcoming generation of para swimmers.

Julie Jago is the head coach of Colchester Phoenix Amateur Swimming Club, a registered charity which provides swimming opportunities for people with disabilities, and she previously coached Challis to the highest level.

Challis became ParalympicsGB's youngest medallist of Tokyo 2020 when she won silver in the S3 50m backstroke at her maiden Games but now has hopes and dreams of upgrading her silver to gold in the French capital.

The 20-year-old competes in her favoured 50m back and 100m freestyle events at La Defense Arena, recently having been crowned European champion in the former.

Colchester Phoenix swimmers have watched Challis go from club swimmer to a two-time Paralympian in recent years in a success story that Jago now hopes can inspire her former teammates to glory.

"We're all incredibly proud of Ellie going to second Paralympic Games, and to have played a part in that journey," she said.

"I'm hoping she's in this to win and inspire everybody to do the very best they can.

"I think she's got every chance of a medal, and a gold would be fantastic.

"ParalympicsGB are doing amazingly over there. There's been lots of inspiration for her already as they win golds left, right and centre. It's been amazing to watch."

This success is in large part down to the investment into Paralympic sport. Challis is one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support – which has been vital on their pathway to the Paris 2024 Games. 

To celebrate Challis' success, Colchester Phoenix hosted a watch party for her 50m backstroke heat after one of their training sessions. They were also joined by three-time Paralympic champion Ollie Hynd as they gathered to watch one of their own in the pool.

Hynd knows first-hand the difficulty of upgrading medals on the Paralympic stage, having stormed from S8 400m silver at London 2012 before touching the wall for gold at Rio.

And with the determination and drive that Challis has in bucket loads, Hynd has no doubt that Challis can fire herself to Paralympic champion status in Paris.

"Race day at the Paralympics is a complete blur," he said.

"But I know how hard Ellie works and I know how talented a swimmer she is.

"Now is the time to go out and execute and show the world what she can do.

This is the exciting bit, and I know that Ellie will see it that way and she'll be really excited to get in the pool and compete.

"She's going to be as best prepared as she possibly can be, thanks to the funding we receive through The National Lottery, so there's no reason why she can't win gold."

And after seeing Challis rise from a young swimmer to a two-time Paralympian over the past decade, Jago reflected on what she was like when she first joined the club all those years ago.

"Colchester Phoenix is a disability swimming club, so we cater for a whole range of physical and learning disabilities," she said.

"I've been head coach for 10 years and before that, I was just a general teacher at Phoenix.

"I started coaching Ellie when she was about 10 and she was very much just one of the crew.

"She always wanted to be independent, she was outgoing and willing to give anything and everything a try."

Thanks to National Lottery players our Olympic & Paralympic athletes are supported to live their dreams and make the nation proud. With more than £30M a week raised for Good Causes, The National Lottery has enabled ParalympicsGB to become a global force in Para Swimming and has provided more opportunities for people inspired by athletes like Ellie to take part in the sport. For details visit  www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk