Brianna
Coop

Among Brianna Coop’s ultimate goals in life is to make a difference in the lives of people with a disability. Without realising it, she took a huge leap towards that goal when she competed at her first Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016.

As one of Australia’s strongest T35 sprinters, Brianna has continued to take her sport to the next level since making her debut for Australia at the 2015 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Athletics World Championships in Doha, Qatar, where she won a bronze medal in the women’s 100m T35.

She also placed fourth over 200m, but for Brianna, the bronze medal was particularly sweet. She beat dual Paralympic silver medallist Oxana Corso (ITA) to the line by just three hundredths of a second to cap a momentous year both on and off the track – highlighted also by completing Year 12.

Brianna made her dream Paralympic debut at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, and after only narrowly missing a place on the podium in the women’s 100m T35, she is hungrier than ever. She proved that when she placed fifth in the women’s 100m T35 at the 2019 World Para-athletics Championships last November – while simultaneously battling a stress fracture in her foot that had kept her from the track for the three weeks before the titles.

Giving back is important to Brianna, and with a Certificate III in Disability Services and a Certificate II in Auslan, she hopes to work with people with a disability in regional communities after wrapping up her sporting career.