Danny Sidbury: "Curiosity is the Thing That Has Fed My Journey"

Danny started small, targeting the London Marathon in 2015, as he reconnected with an old coach who leant him a second-hand wheelchair to train in. After finding fitness and tackling his first London Marathon by storm, Danny was bitten by the para athletics bug and vowed to keep at the sport. Despite going on to greater things, Danny admitted that he struggled when first training for the world-renowned marathon back in 2015. 

“I wrote a bucket list with all the things I wanted to do, and the first one on the list was to attend a Paralympic Games as a spectator – I never thought I could go as a competitor! And along with the sky diving and the swimming with sharks and all that other stuff I wrote, I wanted to do a marathon, specifically the London Marathon. 

“So, I got in touch with my old coach from when I was eight and had had a small go at wheelchair racing, Christine Parslow, and she decided to take me on. I said that I just wanted to do the London Marathon, and I thought I would do it and move on to the next thing on my list, but I sort of got bitten by the bug, and it was just really good fun. 

“We started off with just 100m, and I couldn’t even stay in lane! I’d start in lane one and end up in lane eight over just that small distance, but then we built up the distance on the track and moved it over to the road. I was really, really slow at first, but I loved it – just the sense of occasion and pushing myself physically is something I’ve always enjoyed doing, and it’s what kept me going at the sport.” 

After his stint on the road, the now 27-year-old transitioned to the track, with his first-ever track competition taking place at the Stoke Mandeville Stadium. At the time, Danny could only manage training twice a week and went head-to-head with some of the best full-time athletes in the British field. 

But he won convincingly and went on to be ranked in the top three athletes in Britain across all distances – from 100m to half marathon –, as well as the top 10 in Europe in all distances. Danny’s talent also saw him amongst the best in the sport as he was ranked in the top 30 in the world. 

And six years after he ticked off his first wheelchair sporting achievement in the London Marathon, he was selected to compete at the Tokyo Games in the T54 5,000m, 1,500m, 800m and 400m – showing off his immense power, endurance and potential to be one of the best wheelchair racers in Britain. 

A strong performance in Japan saw Danny shine on a world level, taking part in an exceptional T54 1,500m final, where five athletes broke the previous world record. He was one of those five but unfortunately didn’t make it onto the podium due to the quality of the athletes in the field. 

He added: “The Tokyo Games was amazing and something I’ll never forget. I worked so hard to get there and made that daily grind day in, day out, so to get there was quite surreal. 

“I didn’t realise how hard it would be to get there, and the sport is just getting better and better each year. Breaking a world record was something I never thought I’d do – it’s just a shame four others did as well!” 

And after a stunning seven-year rise from bucket lists to ParalympicsGB, Danny is curious about what the future will hold and how far he can take his career as he starts to gear up for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham this summer. 

He added: “At the time I started wheelchair racing, my diet wasn’t that good, and I was still drinking occasionally. It got the cogs turning and got me thinking about what I could do if I didn’t drink, trained five or six times a week and had a custom chair – and now with the Commonwealth Games just around the corner, it’s crazy to think how far I have come. 

“To have a home Games as well I think will be really special and another thing to tick off my bucket list! Curiosity is the thing that has fed my journey really – curiosity into how far I can go and how far I can take it. To this day, that curiosity is what keeps me going.” 

Commonwealth Games England has appointed SportsAid to lead on the development, management and operational delivery of Team England Futures at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. The programme, supported by Sport England, will reinforce the importance of the Commonwealth Games, particularly one hosted on home soil, as a developmental opportunity within the talent and performance pathway!