Samuel
Carter

For wheelchair racer Samuel Carter, having spina bifida has never been an excuse not to play sport. He started in wheelchair basketball and Para-swimming, before an introduction to Paralympic gold medallist Geoff Trappett saw Samuel begin to carve out a future for himself on the track.

Samuel made his international debut in 2011 at the International Paralympic Committee Athletics World Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand, and competed at another two World Championships before finally achieving selection to the Australian Paralympic Team in 2016.

For Samuel, the experience of competing at the Paralympic Games was unlike anything he could have imagined. He says that it does not matter how many athletes he had spoken to, or how many times he had watched the Games on television, the experience of being there and continuing the tradition of a thousand other Australians before him is one which he will remember for a lifetime.

At the 2016 Paralympics, Samuel contested two events – the men’s 100m T54 and men’s 400m T54 – and exceeded his own expectations by placing sixth in the 100m final. It was a promising debut performance, and laid the groundwork for Samuel to compete at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

Before Tokyo, however, came the 2019 World Para-athletics Championships, where Samuel teamed up with one of the international Para-athletics community’s most respected coaches, Fred Periac. While they did not medal, it is a partnership which bodes well for future Australian success on the track, and fitting following the retirement of T54 great Kurt Fearnley in April 2018.

At Tokyo 2020, Sam finished in third in his heat in the men’s 100m T54 event to qualify for the final, where he crossed the line with a time of 14.08 to finish in fifth overall. In the men’s 400m T54, he finished sixth with a season best time of 47.06 in his heat, but did not qualify for the final.