The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games are now just six months away and the world-leading GB wheelchair fencing squad are working hard at the University of Bath as they look to build on their tremendous success at Tokyo 2020. The UKSI Wheelchair Fencing World-Class Programme has gone from strength to strength since being established at the Team Bath Sports Training Village and this Paralympic cycle has seen the opening of a custom-built National Training Centre, allowing...
Lucy Frazer MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, met several Olympic and Paralympic Champions at their University of Bath training base on Thursday where they are preparing for Paris 2024, now just six months away. She was accompanied on the tour of the Team Bath Sports Training Village (STV) by Dame Katherine Grainger, Chair of UK Sport, and spoke to a number of athletes and coaches including double Tokyo 2020 swimming gold-medallist...
Dimitri Coutya won double gold and Piers Gilliver was also victorious as the University of Bath-based British wheelchair fencing squad bagged a fantastic five medals when Cardiff hosted the first World Cup of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games year. Coutya gave the home crowd plenty to shout about when he claimed both the Category B epee and foil titles plus foil team silver with training partners Oliver Lam-Watson, Joshua Waddell and Gilliver, who won Category...
With the dawn of a new Olympic and Paralympic year upon us, University of Bath-based sportspeople will be looking to build on the outstanding global success they enjoyed during a memorable 2023. Six athletes were crowned as World Champions – Joe Choong (modern pentathlon); Matt Weston (skeleton); Tom Dean, James Guy and Suzanna Hext (swimming); and Piers Gilliver (wheelchair fencing) – while others secured historic podium placings and continental crowns. In total a stunning 74...
The University of Bath-based British wheelchair fencing team won one gold, one silver and three bronze medals at the last World Cup of the year in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand – contested as part of the 2023 World Abilitysport Games. Dimitri Coutya got the week off to an outstanding start, his dominance in the Category B foil competition underlined by a 15-3 victory over France’s Maxime Valet in the final. He only conceded eight hits in...
The University of Bath has today been recognised by UK Sport for its contribution to the preparation of elite Olympic and Paralympic athletes. It is one of the first of just eight institutions nationwide to be awarded the status of “UK Sport-accredited Elite Training Centre”, a title that celebrates its role in helping Team GB and ParalympicsGB athletes achieve their full performance potential. Dr Kate Baker, Director of Performance at UK Sport, said: “Our Elite...
Piers Gilliver successfully defended his Wheelchair Fencing World Championships epee title as he and Dimitri Coutya brought home four medals from Italy between them to their University of Bath training base. Paralympic champion Gilliver battled through nail-biting quarter- and semi-finals against China’s Jianquan Tian and Gang Sun respectively, winning both 15-14, before dominating the Category A epee final in Terni by beating home favourite Emanuele Lambertini 15-4. Gilliver, based at the Wheelchair Fencing National Training...
University of Bath-based wheelchair fencer Piers Gilliver made a successful return to competition after injury by winning double gold at the IWAS World Cup in Warsaw, Poland. Paralympic, World and European Champion Gilliver hasn’t competed internationally since December but was quickly back to his best as he dominated the Category A epee, sealing the title with a 15-5 victory over China’s Saichun Zhong. He followed that up with a second gold in the Category A...
Netballer Emma Payne has been voted by their fellow student-athletes as the University of Bath Sports Personality of the Year in the 2023 Blues Awards. The Sport and Exercise Science student was recognised for her contribution to the University’s netball club over the past four years, which has seen her serve as Chair this year alongside helping the 1st team reach the BUCS National Championships final. She also plays for Team Bath Netball U21s in the NPL division and has...
Dimitri Coutya won double gold in Washington DC as wheelchair fencers who train at the University of Bath picked up where they left off in 2022 by enjoying more medal success at the first IWAS World Cup of the year. World and European Champion Coutya, coached by Peter Rome at the Team Bath Sports Training Village, secured his first gold in the Category B epee with a dominant 15-5 win over Poland’s Michal Dabrowski in...