Sophie Carrigill (born 19 January 1994) is a 1.0 point British wheelchair basketball player who represented Great Britain at the 2014 Women's World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Toronto and the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Sophie Carrigill
Personal information
Nationality United Kingdom
Born (1994-01-19) 19 January 1994 (age 30)
Leeds, West Yorkshire
Height5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Sport
CountryGreat Britain
SportWheelchair basketball
Disability class1.0
EventWomen's team
ClubLeeds Spiders
Coyotes
Medal record
Wheelchair basketball
U25 Women's World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2015 Beijing, China Women's wheelchair basketball
European Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2013 Frankfurt, Germany Women's wheelchair basketball
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Worcester, United Kingdom Women's wheelchair basketball
Bronze medal – third place 2017 Tenriffe, Spain Women's wheelchair basketball
Women's World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2018 Hamburg, Germany Women's wheelchair basketball

Biography

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Sophie Carrigill was born on 19 January 1994.[1] She attended Wakefield Girls' High School, where she played netball, hockey, and tennis. During a family holiday in the United States in 2010, she was a passenger in a car that crashed into a tree. Despite being the only person in the vehicle wearing a seat belt, she spent two months in hospital, where many of her organs were damaged and some removed including her gall bladder. Her kidney was damaged, and she fractured her T6 thoracic vertebrae,[1][2] leaving her paralysed from the waist down. She subsequently spent two months in rehabilitation in the spinal unit at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield.[2][3]

Carrigill took up playing wheelchair basketball. Within a year of playing her first game, she was selected to represent the eventual silver medallists Yorkshire in the U19 event at The Lord's Taverners National Junior Championships in 2012. She played for the Leeds Spiders in Divisions 1 and 3 of the BWB National League, and the Coyotes in the Standard Life GB Women's National League.[1] She was chosen to carry the Olympic torch when it passed through Dewsbury in June 2012,[2] received the Harry Mills Team Maker Award at the Youth Sport Trust National Talent Orientation Camp in 2013,[1] and was awarded the ICAP Beckwith Scholarship. That year she took her A-levels in Psychology, Physical Education, and English Language, and entered the University of Worcester, where she studied Sports Psychology.[1]

In April 2013, Carrigill made her international debut in a tournament against the Netherlands.[4] She went on to represent Britain at the European Championships in Frankfurt later the same year, winning bronze, and was captain of the team at the World Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Toronto the following year.[1] She played in the 2015 Women's U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Beijing,[5] winning gold,[6] and defeated France to take bronze in the 2015 European Championship.[7] In May 2016, she was named as part of the team for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.[8] The British team produced its best ever performance at the Paralympics, making it all the way to the semi-finals, but lost to the semi-final to the United States, and then the bronze medal match to the Netherlands.[9]

On 29 May 2021, she appeared on I Can See Your Voice with her boyfriend Josh Landmann, another Paralympian.[10]

Achievements

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Sophie Carrigill". British Wheelchair Basketball. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  2. ^ a b c "Sporty Sophie gets Back Up". Wakefield Express. 4 April 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  3. ^ "Pinderfields spinal injuries unit inspires runners after treating Olympic hopeful Sophie Carrigill". Wakefield Express. 16 February 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  4. ^ "Sophie makes international debut for GB Wheelchair Basketball Squad". Wakefield Girls' High School. 30 April 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  5. ^ "Great Britain Team announced for 2015 Women's U25 World Wheelchair Basketball Championships". British Wheelchair Basketball. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Great Britain crowned Women's U25 World Champions!". British Wheelchair Basketball. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  7. ^ a b "Germany earn 10th women's European Wheelchair Basketball Championship title as hosts Britain win men's gold". Inside the Games. 6 September 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  8. ^ "British women's wheelchair basketball team named for Rio". International Paralympic Committee. 13 May 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  9. ^ Berkeley, Geoff (17 September 2016). "University of Worcester-based GB women's wheelchair basketball team miss out on bronze medal to dominant Dutch in Rio Paralympics". Worcester News. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  10. ^ "What's on TV tonight: The Masked Dancer, Cher, Sir Alex, The Queen Mother, and more". The Telegraph. The Daily Telegraph. 7 February 2020. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  11. ^ "Summary - Wheelchair Basketball". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  12. ^ "Sophie Carrigill". British Wheelchair Basketball. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  13. ^ "NED v GBR". FIBA LiveStats. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
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