Meet the Yorkshire Olympians competing in Paris

With just nine days to go until the start of the 2024 Paris Olympics, athletes from Team GB have been gearing up for the Games - and many are travelling from Yorkshire to compete.

Among them are former medallists including Harrogate diver Jack Laugher, Leeds mountain biker Tom Pidcock and Otley road cyclist Lizzie Deignan.

Over the years the region has produced champions who became household names, such as Jessica Ennis-Hill and the Brownlee brothers, but a new generation is hoping to make their mark this summer.

Yorkshire is represented in a number of the major events and disciplines, including the showpiece men's 100m sprint.

Team GB's only representative in the shot put is former bricklayer Scott Lincoln from Northallerton, who didn't even have the right footwear when he first started competing.

He attempted to qualify for the Rio Games in 2016 while still an apprentice at his father's construction firm, and made his debut at Tokyo 2020.

He is hoping to make the podium in Paris after he took the bronze medal at the last Commonwealth Games.

The 31-year-old was selected after winning his 10th consecutive British outdoor title and meeting the Olympic qualifying standard.

He said he was "excited" for his first experience of a Games without Covid restrictions.

His shot put career began in school competitions.

He said: "It's easy to think, when you're at school, that you're a big deal throwing 3m more than your classmates.

"Then I got to the English Schools, which was the biggest competition of the year, and I turned up in skateboarding trainers, absolutely clueless.

"I remember the first guy smashing the 19m box at the side, and I thought jeez, he even has proper shoes for throwing in!"

Another of the region's hopefuls is Sheffield sprinter Louie Hinchliffe, whose story has been described as a "sporting fairytale".

He grew up in Crookes and attended Notre Dame High School, where he excelled in athletics and golf. After a year at Lancaster University, Hinchliffe was recruited by the University of Houston's track programme, where the head coach is nine-times Olympic champion Carl Lewis.

He has since won the US collegiate 100m title and the British Championships.

If he came through the heats in Paris, Hinchliffe would be only the second British athlete in 25 years to reach the men's 100m final. The most recent, Zharnel Hughes at Tokyo 2020, was disqualified from the race.

He said: "Carl has made a massive difference. He's a nine-time champion, you just have to be an open book and take in all the advice he gives you.

"He'll make jokes and he'll also be hard on you when something isn't right. He keeps me on the right track.

He added: “It means everything to be going to Paris.

"I will go with the attitude that I can win. I seem to do well in the high-pressure situations, so who knows.”

Long-distance runner Emile Cairess will make his Olympic debut in Paris and compete in the marathon.

He grew up in Saltaire and attended Bradford Grammar School, which has a history of producing distance runners.

The 26-year-old's mother Alison, an art teacher, introduced him to running as a child.

He trains on Baildon Moor and along the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, and represents Bingley Harriers.

He came to wider attention in 2023 when he overtook Mo Farah in the London Marathon, and this year he came third in the elite men's race.

Cairess is the second-fastest British marathon runner of all time.

Sam Dickinson applied to the University of Leeds so that he could train alongside the Brownlee brothers at its elite triathlon centre - but he ended up edging Jonny out of Olympic selection.

Dickinson, 27, grew up in York and went to St Peter's School. He now lives in Leeds.

This year he was given a spot in the Team GB squad for Paris ahead of Jonny, meaning neither Brownlee will compete at the Olympics for the first time since Alistair made his debut at Beijing 2008.

He said he was "elated" when he found out he had been selected - but was confident he was well-prepared.

"Nothing changes because you've done what you need to do to get selected, so really it's just pressing repeat and doing the same again," he said.

"I remember London 2012, when Yorkshire got more medals than Australia, and I remember that with fondness.

"Apparently we're just bred hard up here.

"It's tough in the winter, it's cold. But we just crack on with it, don't we?"

He added: "It is important to remember that we have been selected because we are good. We just need to focus on our role and hopefully the medals, the outcome, will take care of itself".

Molly Thompson-Smith, 26, specialises in the combined boulder and lead, a discipline set to make its Olympic debut at Paris 2024.

She said her drive to compete at the Olympics comes from a desire for change, as well as success.

She grew up in London but trains in Sheffield, and as one of few black climbers on the global circuit said she wants to "be that role model, that athlete I wish I had when I was a kid".

In a recent interview with BBC Newsbeat, Thompson-Smith said she was taken aback by research suggesting people who take part in climbing overwhelmingly come from white backgrounds.

The Leeds Beckett University study, published in 2021, found people from black, Asian and minority backgrounds only make up about 7% of participants in the sport.

"I'm always pretty shocked when I hear the stats about participation within climbing," she said.

The Halifax middle-distance runner became UK champion in the 800m in 2022, but his chance at the World Championships was lost when a blood clot in his calf left him unable to compete.

He even spent time in a mobility scooter and further injury problems persisted last year, but he made a comeback at the British Championships this year, finishing second in the 800m to qualify for Paris.

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