Blake Cochrane

If there was a ’30 Under 30′ list of Australian Paralympians, there is every chance that Blake Cochrane’s name would be on it.

With two gold and two silver from three Paralympic Games, two world titles, three minor World Championships medals, and four from the Commonwealth Games, Blake is one of the Australian Para-swimming team’s most decorated athletes.

Fittingly, he made his international debut more than a decade ago at the pinnacle event for his sport – the Paralympic Games – and immediately put the world on notice with a stunning race to the finish line in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB7. Blake touched the wall in 1:23.36, just over a second behind his supremely more experienced rival, six-time Paralympian Sascha Kindred (GBR), to get his first taste of the international podium.

Four years later, as the reigning world champion in two disciplines, Blake recorded what remains one of the most dominant victories of his career. Storming home in his pet event, the men’s 100m breaststroke SB7, he won gold more than three seconds ahead of the silver medallist, Japan’s Tomotaro Nakamura. With Australian teammate Matthew Levy snapping up bronze, the reigning champion, Sascha, was relegated to fourth.

In 2017, he was one of 11 athletes named to Paralympics Australia’s inaugural Athlete Commission.

At Tokyo 2020, Blake added another medal to his Paralympic haul when he claimed bronze in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB7 with a time of 1:16.97.

Outside the pool, Blake holds a Bachelor’s degree in Clinical Exercise Physiology.