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Double world champion Para-athlete Lauren Parker reconfirmed her standing as among NSW’s leading Paralympians when she captured the Athlete of the Year with a Disability award at the NSW Champions of Sport Ceremony on Monday.
Parker joins wheelchair racer Kurt Fearnley as a four-time winner of Athlete of the Year with a Disability – just one title behind five-time Award winner, wheelchair tennis great, David Hall.
Parker showed her dominance in both the longer and short forms of Para-triathlon completing an undefeated international season culminating in World Championship success in both World Triathlon and Ironman triathlon events.
The Newcastle athlete then continued to build on her remarkable career becoming a world champion in a second sport, Para-cycling, when winning hand-cycling gold in the H3 individual time trial at the UCI World Championships in August.
The all-conquering World Championship winning BC3 Boccia pairs team of Boccia Daniel Michel/Ashlee Maddern (Ramp operator) and Jamieson Leeson/Amanda Leeson (Ramp operator) earned Team of the Year with a Disability.
Vision impaired tennis player Arato Katsuda-Green, aged 12, was named Young Athlete of the Year with a Disability after climbing to be the number one ranked B4 category Men’s Blind and Low Vision singles player in Australia and capturing silver (doubles) and bronze (singles) medals in the adults division at the International Blind Sports Federation World Games in Birmingham last August.
The Ceremony also saw seven-time world surfing champion, Layne Beachley, AO, become the 24th NSW athlete and the first surfer to be elevated to NSW Legend Status.
Beachley is the first woman to win seven World Championships and she won an eighth world title becoming the first female winner of the WSL World Masters Championship.
The Awards ceremony also saw John Forbes (Sailing), Heather Garriock (Football), Mathew Helm (Diving), Brett Lee (Cricket) and David Palmer, OAM (Squash) inducted into the NSW Hall of Champions. The NSW Hall of Champions is located at Quay Centre at Sydney Olympic Park.
The full list of Award winners are:
- Athlete of the Year: Jessica Fox OAM, Paddle
- Athlete of the Year with a Disability: Lauren Parker, Para-triathlon
- Young Athlete of the Year: Errol Gulden, Australian Football
- Young Athlete of the Year with a Disability: Arato Katsuda-Green, Tennis
- Masters Athlete of the Year: Tony Goodwin, Swimming
- Team of the Year: Penrith Panthers, Rugby League
- Team of the Year with a Disability: Daniel Michel/Ashlee Maddern (Ramp operator) and Jamieson Leeson/Amanda Leeson (Ramp operator), Boccia
- Administrator of the Year: Annelise Rosnell, Football
- Coach of the Year: Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, Paddle
- Event of the Year: FIBA Women’s Asia Cup, Basketball
- Official of the Year: Jemma Cook, Netball
- Organisation of the Year: NSW Goalball, Goalball
- The Waratah: Lauren Jackson, Basketball
Posted: 22 November 2023
