Charlotte Henshaw

Charlotte Henshaw claimed her second Paralympic gold of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games as she successfully defended her KL2 title in an epic contest. The Mansfield native had won the first-ever women’s VL3 title before backing it up with a dominant performance a day later.

Charlotte set a Paralympic record despite tough conditions to beat teammate Emma Wiggs by 2.46 seconds with a time of 49.07 to claim her second gold medal in as many days during the KL2 women’s 200m kayak singles.

She won the inaugural Women’s VL3 event ahead of team-mate Hope Gordon, who took silver

Charlotte became Paralympic champion at her first Games as a paracanoe athlete, claiming gold in the women’s KL2 event at Tokyo 20202

Henshaw’s Paralympic appearance in Paris marks the fifth Games of her career, having competed at Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016 in Para swimming, before making the switch to paracanoe.

Henshaw took her World Championship title tally to ten at the 2024 World Championships in Szeged, Hungary, winning KL2 and VL3 gold.

In 2023, Henshaw won a total of five medals across the season including the defence of her KL2 world title, which secured the British boat quota spot for Paris 2024.

Alongside her Paralympic and world successes, Henshaw has five European medals from her glittering career, including two golds.

Unsurprisingly, Henshaw was an extremely successful Para swimmer. As well as winning silver at London 2012 and bronze at Rio 2016, she was a two-time European champion and two-time world silver medallist.

Henshaw was awarded a MBE for her services to canoeing in the 2022 New Year Honours.

Outside of the sport, Henshaw is a huge fan of musical theatre as well as a supporter of Manchester United Football Club.