Meet the East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Olympians

Seven competitors from East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire will be hoping to impress at the Paris Olympics.

Some have already won world titles, including swimmer Freya Colbert and dressage rider Lottie Fry, while others have taken part in previous games, such as long-distance runner Sam Atkin.

Eventer Ros Canter will be taking part in her first Olympics in July, having been a reserve on the Tokyo 2020 team.

Others – including cyclist Ed Lowe and athletes Amy Hunt and Lewis Davey – will be competing for Team GB at the Olympics for the first time.

Swimmer Freya Colbert, from Grantham, said it was finally "sinking in" that, aged 20, she would be part of Team GB.

Earlier this year, Colbert won her first individual gold medal in the 400m medley at the World Championships in Doha.

A former pupil at Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School, she will be competing for Team GB in the women's freestyle and medley events.

“When I got the kit, with the Olympic rings and lion on my chest, that’s when it really sunk in and I was like ‘wow, I’m really part of an Olympic team’,” she said.

Ed Lowe, from Stamford, is a recent addition to the Great Britain Cycling Team's Podium Programme.

Last year, he won a bronze medal at his first elite-level World Cup, in Canada, alongside Harry Ledingham-Horn and Hayden Norris.

He took part in two UCI Track World Cup rounds for Great Britain earlier this year, winning bronze in Adelaide and silver in Canada.

Lowe has been selected for the men’s sprint team and is due to ride the opening lap.

“If you’d have told me a year ago that I’d be going to my first Olympic Games, I wouldn’t have believed you”, he said. “This is everything I’ve worked and trained for since I was a little kid."

Ros Canter, from Hallington, near Louth, was a keen athlete as she grew up on her family's farm.

The 38-year-old went on to become a European and world champion, but said winning an Olympic medal would be “the icing on the cake”.

She will ride Lordships Graffalo in Paris, after a phenomenal year in 2023, when together they won European gold and five-star titles at Badminton and Pau.

“I grew up enjoying watching the Olympics and it’s very special to get there myself,” she added.

Charlotte "Lottie" Fry grew up in Aike, near Driffield, and now lives in the Netherlands.

She earned a bronze medal in team dressage with Charlotte Dujardin and Carl Hester at the Tokyo games, nearly 30 years after her late mother Laura competed in the Barcelona Olympics.

Fry has established herself as one of the best dressage competitors in the world and won a double gold at the 2022 World Championships in Herning.

The 28-year-old said competing in Paris for Team GB would be a "pinch-me moment".

Raised in Ulceby, North Lincolnshire, long-distance runner Sam Atkin gave Mo Farah’s 5,000m national record a scare in May, fuelling hopes of a successful second run at the Olympics.

While studying in the US, he suffered from Freiberg disease, which affected his metatarsal bones and brought him serious discomfort.

He recovered to make his Olympic debut over 10,000m in Tokyo, but suffered an injury mid-race.

In Paris, he will run the 5,000m, buoyed by a personal best 12:54.66, set in Los Angeles, just two seconds short of Farah’s record.

Amy Hunt, from Grantham, turned heads in 2019, when she set an under-18s world record in the 200m.

Gold medals followed in the 200m and 4x100m relay at the European Under-20 Championships.

Hunt was poised to make the step up to senior athletics before her progress was checked by the Covid-19 pandemic and a serious leg injury.

Juggling a university degree with rehabilitation delayed her competitive return, but she soon picked up where she left off, taking home her first senior gold as part of the Great Britain women's 4x100m team at the European Championships earlier this year.

She finished second in the 100m at this year's British Athletics Championships in Manchester.

Lewis Davey's decision to focus his energy on running has paid dividends for him since joining the senior circuit.

The Grantham-bred sprinter stamped his mark on the international stage at the 2022 European Championships in Munich, securing gold as part of the 4 x 400m relay.

Silver and bronze followed as Davey played a key role in successful quartets at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest and he now heads to Paris looking to add more medals to his collection.

Follow BBC Lincolnshire on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. Send your story ideas to e[email protected]