Hannah Russell
Hannah Russell, MBE (born 5 August 1996) is a British Paralympic swimmer competing in S12 classification events. In 2012 she became British S12 champion in the 100m backstroke and qualified for the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games where she won a silver in the 400m freestyle and a bronze in the 100m butterfly. In the 2016 Summer Paralympic Games she won the gold medal in the 100m backstroke with the time of 1:06:06 earning her the World Record.
Russell was born in Ottershaw, Surrey in 1996. Russell, who has a visual impairment, took up swimming at the age of five, first joining Woking Swimming Club, before then moving to Guildford City Swimming Club at the age of twelve. She was educated at Gordon's School in West End in Surrey, before switching to Kelly College in . In 2010 she was scouted through the 'Playground to Podium' initiative, a British system of spotting sporting talent in young people with a disability. After being classified as S12 in 2011, she entered the 2011 IPC European Championships, in Berlin. There she won two medals, silver in the 100 m backstroke and bronze in the 100 m butterfly. In 2012 she took part in the 2012 British Championships, taking another two medals, taking gold in the 100 m backstroke and silver in the 400 m freestyle. During the British Championship, Russell broke the European record in the S12 class 100 m backstroke, with a time of 1:09.52. Later that month, at the Nationwide Junior and Youth Swimming Championships in Sheffield, she broke two S12 world records, in the 400 m freestyle and the 100 m backstroke.
Although stating that her sights were set on qualifying for the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio, Russell's results were good enough to make the Great Britain swimming team for the 2012 Games in London. At 16 years old, she was one of the youngest members of the team, and was entered into five S12 events the 50 m freestyle, 100 m freestyle, 400 m freestyle, 100 m backstroke, 100 m butterfly. In her first event, the 400 m freestyle she swam a personal best of 4:38.60 to take the silver, her first paralympic medal. She finished 0.71 seconds behind Oxana Savchenko of Russia. She won her second medal of the Games, a bronze, in the 100 m butterfly.
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