TOKYO-BOUND Maria Lyle insists she is not motivated by medal targets at her second Paralympic Games.
The Dunbar ace scooped two bronzes and a silver at Rio 2016 and was this week officially selected as part of ParalympicsGB’s athletics team set to descend on Japan.
She recently soared to a thrilling pair of gold medals at the European Championships in Poland and broke her own T35 200m European record – that she first set when she was just 14 – in the process.
Paralympic gold is one achievement that still alludes her but Lyle is not thinking about glory ahead of the Games, which get underway near the end of August.
Lyle, one of over 1,000 athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, said: “I don't tend to focus on: 'Oh, I'm going to go for this specific medal.'
“For me, it is about trying to execute a good race and working on the things we've done in training and applying them.
“If I can run a good race, then what will be will be.
“I can't worry too much about the result, I just need to focus on the process of getting there.
“I was really happy with how I executed my runs at the Europeans, and it's given me quite a lot of confidence.
“We've not been able to compete internationally for 18 months, so to do that, I was really happy.
“I've got a bit more time to work on my training, get some more races in my legs and then hopefully I can run well at Tokyo.”
UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme allows 21-year-old Lyle to train full-time, access the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering technology, science and medical support.
Lyle, who has cerebral palsy, is a three-time Paralympic, seven-time world and eight-time European Championship medallist and no stranger to what it feels like to deliver on the big stage.
She is also a versatile customer away from the track, balancing her athletics career with a degree in sports coaching at Edinburgh Napier University and also running This Ability Podcast alongside Gary Heatly.
READ MORE: Double European champion looks ahead to Paralympics
The former Dunbar Grammar School pupil, who hopes to add to the 864 Olympic and Paralympic medals won by Great Britain and Northern Ireland athletes since the advent of National Lottery funding in 1997 in Japan, added: “The point of the podcast is to speak to other people with lots of different disabilities and get their experience and take on life, the challenges and also the achievements and sharing that with the public.
“Not only has it been good for other people to hear what it's like for a disabled person in this world, but it's been quite good to learn how other people feel and just know that we're not alone."
No one does more to support our Olympic and Paralympic athletes than National Lottery players, who raise around £36 million each week for good causes.
Discover the positive impact playing the National Lottery has on sport at www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk and get involved by using the hashtags: #TNLAthletes #TracktoTokyo
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