Ella Pardy

Ella Pardy has always been ultra passionate about sport, which is why it comes as such a surprise to those who know her that it was not until turning 16 that she launched her career in Para-athletics.

Before Para-athletics came Para-equestrian, Para-swimming, basketball, ice skating – you name it – but it was only after hitting the track in the early 2000s that she really found her stride.

Initially, becoming a Paralympic athlete was not on Ella’s radar. She competed as an athlete with an intellectual impairment, including twice at the Global Games, before being reclassified as a T38 athlete – for her cerebral palsy, which she acquired at birth during her mammoth 28-hour delivery – and became eligible to compete in Para-athletics at the Commonwealth Games, World Championships and Paralympics.

Ella made her international debut at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, where she placed ninth in the women’s long jump T37-38, and returned to the world stage the following year for her first World Championships, where she achieved two top-five results over 100m and 200m.

Her first major international medal came in 2016 at her debut Paralympic Games. Together with her teammates Erin Cleaver, Jodi Elkington-Jones and Isis Holt, Ella won bronze in the women’s 4x100m T35-38.

Ella, who is coached by Danny Devan and Amanda Alley, was selected for her second Paralympics at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. In the 100m T38 final, Ella finished seventh with a season-best time of 0:13.14.