Butterfield eyes summer and winter Paralympic gold

After being chosen to compete in the wheelchair curling team for the March 2026 Games, Jo Butterfield will attempt to become the first British athlete to win gold at both the summer and winter paralympics.

Before switching from para-athletics to curling in 2023, the 46-year-old won club throw gold at Rio 2016.

She won the same year’s mixed team world championships, and she will compete alongside Jason Kean in the new mixed doubles competition the following year after a brief break from the ice to recover from cancer.

Since becoming a Paralympian, Butterfield, who was born in Yorkshire but now represents Scotland, has carried the dream of pushing boundaries and seeing what is possible.

It’s a challenge I’m fully committed to embracing and a goal I set myself when I switched to wheelchair curling in 2023.

The seven-strong team includes four English-born athletes, and Butterfield and Kean will be the first non-Scotland-based British athletes to compete in a curling Paralympics.

Along with Kean, Stewart Aspey and Stewart Pimblett represented England at the World Wheelchair Curling Championships this year along with Scots Hugh Nibloe, Austin McKenzie, and Graeme Stewart in the team event.

Milano Cortina is Nibloe’s third Games appearance, making him the only other member of the squad to have previously competed at a Winter Paralympics.

The 43-year-old from Stranraer is determined to take home a podium at the Paralympics after previously claiming world silver and bronze.