ULTIMATE recognition has been paid to teenage sports star Poppy Maskill’s high-rise achievements in 2024.
The three-time Paralympic gold medallist has received the MBE in the New Year Honours list, for services to swimming.
Poppy, 19, from Middlewich, is one of 15 golden gong winners from last summer’s Paris Games to be bestowed in this prestigious manner.
The honour from The King is a juicy big cherry on top of an avalanche of icing following an incredible year in the pool for Poppy, a former Northwich Centurions Swimming Club and Winsford Swim Team member.
After winning Great Britain’s first gold of the Paralympic Games in emphatic fashion – setting a world record in the women’s S14 100m butterfly – she made international media headlines.
But that was just the start, as Poppy went on to win golds in the women’s S14 100m backstroke and the mixed S14 4x100m freestyle relay as well silvers in the women’s S14 200m freestyle and 200m individual medley events.
No ParalympicsGB athlete came home from the French capital with more medals, and her success was marked by being one of her country’s two flagbearers for the closing ceremony.
There was more success and recognition to come for Poppy, who is also a multiple world champion in the S14 intellectually impaired classification.
Having become a household name thanks to her record-smashing exploits in Paris, she was honoured by the Sports Journalists’ Association.
The SJA named her as their Female Breakthrough Athlete of the Year as part of their British Sports Awards.
Along with Warrington’s teenage darts sensation Luke Littler, who was named as the Male Breakthrough Athlete of the Year, Poppy was awarded the Peter Wilson Trophy.
Her stunning year in the pool was then capped off by significant success at national level.
She achieved a joint world’s best time and broke a European record in the Swim England National Winter Championships in Sheffield.
Poppy and fellow S14 swimmer Georgia Sheffield both touched the wall in a record 1:04.09 in the multi-classification 100m backstroke final to tie the gold medal position.
That time took more than a second off the previous best set by Dutch athlete Marlou Van Der Kulk back in 2015.
Poppy broke the S14 European record for the female multi-classification 100m butterfly on the final day in Sheffield, clocking 1:03.84.
She also clinched silver in the women’s multi-classification 100m freestyle.
Poppy first started making headlines in 2014 when she was the Middlewich rose queen, aged nine.
Her rise in swimming was noted with her international debut when she claimed a medal of each colour at the Madeira 2022 world championships.
She continued to establish herself on the global stage with a medal in all five of her events at the Manchester 2023 world championships, including gold in the mixed S14 4x100m freestyle relay.
And at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, she represented Team England in the S14 200m freestyle placing fourth, while she was later that year awarded ‘Emerging Para-Swimmer of the Year’ at the Aquatics GB awards.
Away from swimming, Poppy is a lover of dogs and is fondly known among her teammates for having an incredibly large collection of Crocs footwear.
Hopefully 2025 will bring huge splashes of more success for the Middlewich mermaid!