Quick Facts
Scorpio
Biography
Dame Sarah Joanne Storey, DBE (née Bailey; born 26 October 1977) is a British road and track racing cyclist and former swimmer. She is a multiple gold medal winner at the Paralympic Games in both sports, and six times British (able-bodied) national track champion (2 × Pursuit, 1 × Points, 3 × Team Pursuit). Her total of fourteen gold medals makes her the most successful female British Paralympian of all time.
Storey's major achievements also include being a 29-time World champion (6 in swimming and 23 in cycling), a 21-time European champion (18 in swimming and 3 in cycling) and holding 75 world records.
Personal life
Storey was born Sarah Bailey in Manchester without a functioning left hand after her arm became entangled in the umbilical cord in the womb and the hand did not develop as normal.
In 2007, she married tandem pilot and coach Barney Storey. Storey gave birth to her daughter, Louisa Marie, on 30 June 2013. In April 2017, it was announced that Storey was expecting her second child, who was named Charlie John.
She and her husband live in Disley, Cheshire.
Swimming at the Paralympic Games
Storey began her Paralympic career as a swimmer, winning two golds, three silvers and a bronze in Barcelona in 1992. She continued swimming in the next three Paralympic Games before switching to cycling in 2005, reputedly because of a persisting ear infection.
Cycling
At the 2008 Paralympic Games, her fifth, Storey won the individual pursuit – in a time that would have been in the top eight at the Olympic final – and the road time trial.
Storey also competes against non-disabled athletes and won the 3 km national track pursuit championship in 2008, eight days after taking the Paralympic title, and defended her title in 2009. In 2014, she added a third national track title with a win in the points race.
Storey qualified to join the England team for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, where she was "the first disabled cyclist to compete for England at the Commonwealth Games", against non-disabled cyclists. She was also the second Paralympic athlete overall competing for England at the Games, following archer Danielle Brown earlier in Delhi.
In 2011, Storey competed for one of the three places in the GB squad for the women's team pursuit at the 2012 Olympic Games. Although she was in the winning team for the World Cup event in Cali, Colombia in December 2011, she was informed afterwards that she was being dropped from the team pursuit squad.
London's 2012 Paralympics Games saw Storey win Britain's first gold medal, in the women's individual C5 pursuit. She went on to win three more gold medals, one in the Time Trial C4–5 500m, one in the Individual Road Time Trial C5 and finally one in the Individual Road Race C4–5.
In 2014, Storey and her husband Barney Storey founded the Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International women's amateur cycling team, supporting the charity Boot Out Breast Cancer. The team fielded squads in the 2014 and 2015 British road race seasons.
Storey attempted to break the world hour record at the Lee Valley VeloPark in London on 28 February 2015. She set a distance of 45.502 km, which was 563m short of Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel's 2003 overall world record – however Storey's distance did set a new world record in the C5 Paralympic cycling class as well as a new British record.
In the Rio 2016 Paralympics Storey became Britain's most successful female paralympian when she won theC5 3000m individual pursuit final.
Honours
Storey was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1998 New Year Honours. Following the Beijing Games, she was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2012, she was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Manchester. Following the 2012 London Games, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours.
Storey was a nominee for the 2008 Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year with a Disability and the 2012 BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
Major results
- 2005
- European Para-cycling Championships
- European Open Para-cycling Championships
- 1st Road Race
- 1st Individual Pursuit
- 2nd 500m Time Trial
- 3rd Time Trial
- National Track Championships
- 7th Individual Pursuit
- 2006
- UCI Track Para-cycling World Championships
- National Track Championships
- UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships
- 2nd Road Race
- 2nd Time Trial
- 2007
- UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships
- National Road Championships
- National Track Championships
- UCI Paralympic World Cup
- 1st Individual Pursuit
- 1st 500m Time Trial
- 2008
- Paralympic Games
- National Track Championships
- UCI Paralympic World Cup
- 1st Individual Pursuit
- 3rd 500m Time Trial
- 2009
- UCI Track Para-cycling World Championships
- UCI Road Para-cycling World Championships
- UCI Masters Road Para-cycling World Championships
- National Track Championships
- UCI Paralympic World Cup
- 1st Individual Pursuit
- 1st 500m Time Trial
- 2012
- Paralympic Games
- UCI Track Para-cycling World Championships
- UCI Track Cycling World Cup–Cali
- 1st Team Pursuit
- 1st Overall Essex Giro Stage Race
- 1st Blenheim Palace Time Trial
- 1st Curlew Cup Road Race
- 1st Caperwry Road Race
- 1st Cheshire Classic Road Race
- 9th Overall Tour du Limousin
- 2014
- UCI Track Para-cycling World Championships
- UCI Road Para-cycling World Championships
- National Track Championships
- 1st Overall Essex Giro Stage Race
- 1st Cheshire Classic Road Race
- 1st Stage 2 Tour de Bretagne Feminine
- 3rd National Road Championships, Time Trial
- 2015
- UCI Track Para-cycling World Championships
- UCI Road Para-cycling World Championships
- National Track Championships
- 1st Cheshire Classic Road Race
- 1st Overall National Time Trial Series
- 3rd National Road Championships, Time Trial
- 3rd Points Race, Revolution – Round 4, Glasgow
- 2016
- Paralympic Games
- UCI Track Para-cycling World Championships
- 3rd National Road Championships, Time Trial
- 2017
- National Track Championships
- 3rd Team Pursuit
World records
| Date | Discipline | Time | Event | Location | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 August 2005 | 3000m Individual Pursuit (LC 1) | 4'01"140 | Alkmaar,  Netherlands | ||
| 11 September 2006 | 3000m Individual Pursuit (LC 1) | 3'53"107 | Aigle,  Switzerland | ||
| 12 September 2006 | 3000m Individual Pursuit (LC 1) | 3'51"666 | Aigle, Switzerland | ||
| 22 August 2007 | 3000m Individual Pursuit (LC 1) | 3'48"622 | Bordeaux,  France | ||
| 10 September 2008 | 3000m Individual Pursuit (LC 1) | 3'36"637 | 2008 Paralympic Games | Beijing,  China | |
| 7 November 2009 | 3000m Individual Pursuit (LC 1) | 3'34"266 | Manchester,  Great Britain | ||
| 29 November 2011 | 3000m Individual Pursuit (C5) | 3'33"248 | Manchester, Great Britain | ||
| 30 August 2012 | 3000m Individual Pursuit (C5) | 3'32"170 | 2012 Paralympic Games | London, Great Britain | |
| 2 April 2014 | 3000m Individual Pursuit (C5) | 3'32"050 | Aguascalientes,  Mexico | ||
| 28 February 2015 | Hour record (C5) | 45.502 km | UCI Track Cycling World Cup | Lee Valley VeloPark, London, Great Britain | |
| 8 September 2016 | 3000m Individual Pursuit (C5) | 3'31"394 | 2016 Paralympic Games | Rio de Janeiro,  Brazil |