Tokyo Paralympics: Wakefield wheelchair basketball star Carrigill selected for Great Britain squad

The Games are to be held from August 24 to September 5, following a year's delay due to the pandemic, with the GB wheelchair basketball teams currently ranked number one and two in the world for the men and women’s teams respectively.

First discovering the sport at a club in Leeds during her rehabilitation from a near fatal car accident in 2010, Carrigill, 27, has gone on to become a regular international for Great Britain claiming bronze in her major debut at the 2013 European Championships in Frankfurt, Germany.

She captained the GB Women’s team at the 2014 World Championships in Canada and the team in 2015 that earned a qualification place for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games with European bronze.

In Rio, Carrigill co-captained the ParalympicsGB team to its best-ever finish of fourth and has since gone on to make further history being part of the teams that claimed world and European silvers in 2018 and 2019, respectively, both firsts for the GB women’s team.

Joining Carrigill in the GB Women’s Team will be co-captains Maddie Thompson (26) and Amy Conroy (28), along with Helen Freeman (31) making her fourth Paralympic Games appearance.

Established senior squad members Siobhan Fitzpatrick (23) and Kayla Bell (24) will be making their first appearance at a Paralympic Games in Tokyo, joined by Lucy Robinson (22) whose selection marks her senior GB team debut.

Tokyo selection also marks a second Games for Rio teammates Charlotte Moore (22), Joy Haizelden (22) and Robyn Love (30). Laurie Williams (29) and Jude Hamer (30) make up the full team, this being their third Paralympics having both competed in Rio and London.

Carrigill said: “It is honestly an incredible feeling knowing that I’m going to be putting on that GB vest and representing more than just our sport – it’s representing ParalympicsGB with the whole nation behind us.

"I think it’s such an important time for everyone to come together and support us. I can’t wait to be out there and it’s honestly such an honour.

“We’ve not played an international game for what feels like a really long time so I’m just super excited to be landing in Tokyo knowing we’ve got games coming up.

"We’ve put in the hard work, we’ve prepared and we’re ready now. The team’s in a really good place – we’ve been feeling really confident to go out there and give it our all, and hopefully that equals success for us.”