What happened in August? Here’s our round up…

After a busy summer representing Team Scotland in Powerlifting at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, there was no stopping Hope Gordon who claimed two world titles at the Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Championships in Poznań, Poland.

The 31-year-old, who won silver at Paris 2024, added VL3 200m gold to the KL3 200m title she had won less than 18 hours earlier, finishing nearly a boat length clear of her rivals on the final day of competition. 

Emma Wiggs meanwhile claimed her 13th world title with gold in the VL2 200m, the only paddler to clock less than one minute in the final. Charlotte Henshaw won gold in the women’s KL2 200m – her eighth world title in the event and all the more impressive for the three-time Paralympic champion who had been ill in hospital just 10 days earlier. There was a podium finish too for Stuart Wood who claimed bronze in the men’s VL3 200m.

Benjamin Pritchard successfully defended his global title with gold at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, clocking a new championship best time in the process.

The 34-year-old Paris 2024 Paralympic champion – who also successfully defended his European title earlier in August – crossed the line in 08:50.46 in the men’s PR1 single scull event well clear of the rest of the field to round off a superb season.

The PR3 Mixed Coxed Four of Frankie Allen, Charlotte Coburn, Jonty Ridley, Josh O’Brien and cox Omar Al Miqdadi also added to their medal tally, having won European gold weeks earlier in their first season competing together. The squad had to settle for silver though this time, narrowly losing out to the US team in the closing stages.

Great Britain’s Para dressage squad have successfully secured a slot at the LA 2028 Paralympic Games after finishing fifth at the World Championships in Germany. 

Twenty teams were in action with the top seven – excluding hosts USA who earn their place by default – gaining qualification for the Games in just under two years’ time.

There were individual successes too, with gold for Sophie Wells at her fifth World Championship – this time riding MSJ Gold Standard in the individual Grade 5 test.

Paralympic bronze medallist Mari Durward-Akhurst and her horse Athene Lindeberg claimed silver in the Grade 1 individual test – the final competition for Athene Lindeberg, known as ‘the Duchess’ to Mari, who is now retiring after 10 years competing at the highest level. 

Jemima Green and her horse Fantabulous won Grade 2 freestyle silver to add to their bronze from the individual test, while visually impaired rider Nicola Naylor claimed Grade 4 individual bronze with Humberto L at her first World Championships

Evan Molloy claimed Great Britain’s first of five medals at the IBSA European Championships in Germany with a career-best silver in the -81kg J2 class. 

Paralympic silver medallist Dan Powell narrowly missed out on defending his European title and had to settle for silver in the -95kg J1 class. There was a silver medal too for Kirsten Taylor (+70kg J2) - the Scot’s first European Championship medal - while Jack Hodgson (+95kg J2) and Dan English (+95kg J1) each won bronze.

All five athletes – plus Miles Solomon and Evie Gormley – have been selected for the World Championships which take place at the end of September.

Great Britain finished an agonising fourth place at the World Wheelchair Rugby Championships in Brazil, losing out to Japan 54-47 in the bronze medal match. 

After finishing second in their group with only one defeat to Japan, the British team beat Canada 54-50 in the quarter-finals before losing out to Australia 44-60 in the semi-finals, teeing up another match against Japan, the Paralympic champions, for the third spot on the podium. The US took gold with Australia winning silver.

David Weir and Eden Rainbow-Cooper both claimed silver medals at the Sydney marathon in Australia – the race became part of the Abbott World Marathon Major series last year, with Weir currently in fourth position in the men’s leaderboard and Rainbow-Cooper sitting second in the women’s standings. The Berlin marathon is next in the calendar at the end of September.

With Para climbing new to the programme for LA 2028, the World Climbing European Championships provided an excellent opportunity to find out who could be in contention in two years’ time. The event – which doubled as a Paraclimbing World Series event – saw Abbie Robinson and Jay Jackson secure both the European and World Series B2 titles, while Erin McNeice became the first British woman to win a European Lead title.

Will Bayley and Aaron McKibbin enjoyed back-to-back tournament wins in the USA in August, with both securing men’s singles gold in their events at the ITTF World Para Elite Spokane in Washington State a week after success at the ITTF World Para Challenger event.

Joshua Stacey and Fliss Pickard took silver and there were also bronze medals for Paul Karabardak and Bly Twomey. World doubles champion Billy Shilton meanwhile took gold in the men’s class 8 singles at the ITTF World Para Future Lahti in Finland.

Nine wheelchair tennis players including Paris 2024 Paralympic champions Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid have been selected for the GB team set to compete at the World Team Cup in Orlando, Florida in September. 

The GB squad will contest the men’s, women’s and quad draws at World Tennis’s flagship wheelchair tennis event, which is the wheelchair equivalent of the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup. 

Ben Bartram lines up in the men’s team with Alfie and Gordon – all three were part of the teams that lifted the World Team Cup in 2023 and 2024. The women’s team features seven-time World Team Cup medallist Lucy Shuker, Cornelia Oosthuizen and Abbie Breakwell. Paris 2024 Paralympic quad doubles silver medallists Andy Lapthorne and Greg Slade have been selected for the quad event alongside 19-year-old Oliver Cox.