Faye Rogers completes journey as Olympic hopeful to Paralympic swimming champion
Faye Rogers completed the journey from Olympic hopeful to Paralympic swimming champion by powering to gold in Paris three years on from the car crash which changed her life.
The 21-year-old edged out ParalympicsGB team-mate Callie-Ann Warrington to scoop the S10 100m butterfly crown in a British one-two at La Defense Arena.
Rogers took part in Olympic selection trials for Tokyo in 2021 before seriously injuring her right arm in September of that year while driving to training on the day she was due to move to Aberdeen University.
Having suffered several open fractures, a dislocated elbow and a severed ulna nerve, doctors said her competitive swimming career was over.
“It’s been an absolute whirlwind, the last three years,” said Rogers.
“It’s been a massive journey. I couldn’t be prouder of where I’ve come from and how I’ve got here.
“Being told you’re never going to swim competitively again, as someone whose life revolved around swimming, that was really, really difficult.
“Getting into Para swimming has been amazing. It’s honestly been a lifesaver for me.
“I don’t think I’d have coped with the accident and my impairment without being able to swim. I couldn’t be more grateful.”
World champion Rogers was fastest ahead of Warrington by 1.31 seconds in the heats but trailed her compatriot at the halfway point of Tuesday evening’s final.
The biochemistry student, from Stockton-on-Tees, battled back to touch the wall in one minute 5.84 secs – taking the title by just 0.57 secs.
We have been saying to each other the last couple of months, ‘come on, we can get the one-two’
“I could see Callie next to me,” she said “I got a bit nervous but I was relatively confident.
“Callie put up a really good fight down that second 50 (metres), pushed me on a lot. I couldn’t be more happy with the outcome.”
Maidstone-born Warrington clocked a personal best of one minute 6.41 secs as she held off the challenge of Canadian bronze medallist Katie Cosgriffe.
“To be able to race against Faye is just everything,” said the 24-year-old.
“We have been saying to each other the last couple of months, ‘come on, we can get the one-two’. It was lovely to have her next to me.
“We are very good friends until we get to the blocks, then we are competitors and it’s nice to be able to separate that.
“We are both very determined people.”
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