Award-winning sprinter and Paralympian Thomas Young is from Croydon.

Thomas Young was born in July 2000 and is currently taking part in the Paralympics Games Paris 2024.

Young competes in sprinting for ParalympicsGB, specialising in the 100m and 200m T38 events.

Young has a disability called neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), which falls under the T38 classification for Paralympic athletes.

In 2018, Young burst onto the international scene, winning double gold in the 100m and 200m T38 events at the European Championships in Berlin, aged 18.

The next year, Young won a silver medal in the men’s 100m T38 at the World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai.

At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games in 2021, Young claimed the gold medal in the T38 100m event with a time of 10.94 seconds.

He also won multiple gold medals at the World Para Athletics European Championships.

In 2022, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Young with an MBE award in the New Years Honours.

In the Men’s 100m T38 event, which took place on Saturday (August 31), Young came in at fourth place, with a time of 11 seconds.

After the race, Young said: “I’m gutted, it’s been my best season ever and this is just a totally horrible feeling.

“My leg cramped up in the call room but no excuses, it just wasn’t my night.

“I’ve got off the track injury free, the tears will dry, and I can focus on the future.”

“The Americans have scouted athletes from other sports, and they are doing such a good job to bring these guys in for LA.

“Beating them in LA is the ambition now, we’ve a long time to work on it so I’ll focus on getting stronger.”

Thomas was beaten by Jaydin Blackwell, Ryan Medrano, both from the United States, and Juan Campas Sanchez from Colombia.

He said he’s ready to compete against the American athletes at the 2028 Paralympic games in Los Angeles.

He added: "The Americans have scouted athletes from other sports, and they are doing such a good job to bring these guys in for LA - they aren't going to be easy to beat.

"Getting revenge for this in LA is the ambition now, it's a good and bad thing we've got such a long time to wait but I'm going to work hard and focus on getting stronger."