DOUBLE European champion Maria Lyle has set her sights on the Paralympics.

The Dunbar athlete took gold in both the T35 100m and 200m events at the World Para Athletics European Championships in Poland over the last week.

Now, attention turns to the delayed Paralympic Games in Tokyo, which are due to get under way on August 24.

Lyle was looking forward to the event and said: “I know where I am now – what I am doing well and what needs to be improved on.

“The European Championships were all about preparing for Tokyo and getting ready for competing at a major championships.

“It is full steam ahead and to ensure I get more competition in my legs so I am well prepared.”

The Paralympic Games will be Lyle’s second time at the international event.

Maria Lyle on her way to scooping gold medal number seven at the World Para Athletics European Championships in Poland. Picture: IPC/Tadeusz Skwiot

Maria Lyle on her way to scooping gold medal number seven at the World Para Athletics European Championships in Poland. Picture: IPC/Tadeusz Skwiot

In 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, she took bronze in the T35 100m and 200m, as well as being part of the relay team which claimed silver in the T35-38 4x100m.

Athletics, like most sports, has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with Lyle barely competing in the last year.

However, the 21-year-old was in impressive form in Bydgoszcz, breaking two championship records on her way to glory in the two events.

Last Wednesday, she finished in a time of 30.75 seconds – almost three seconds clear of her nearest rival, Jagoda Kibil, in second spot – to win gold in the T35 200m.

Then, on Saturday, she was celebrating doing the double, with a time of 14.39 seconds, which was good enough for a second championship record, in the T35 100m.

Lyle told Courier Sport: “I am really happy with how I got on.

“I knew I had been good at training and it was quite interesting to see what I would be like in a championship environment.

“I’m really happy.”

The success in Poland means Lyle, who has cerebral palsy, is now an eight-time European champion – something she described as “making me sound really old!”

Maria Lyle celebrates scooping gold medal number seven after success in the T35 200m at the World Para Athletics European Championships in Poland. Picture: IPC/Tadeusz Skwiot

Maria Lyle celebrates scooping gold medal number seven after success in the T35 200m at the World Para Athletics European Championships in Poland. Picture: IPC/Tadeusz Skwiot

She first enjoyed success at the World Para Athletics European Championships in Swansea in 2014, when she was just 14 years old.

Two gold medals in Wales was followed by three gold medals in Grosetto, Italy, two years later.

In Berlin, in 2018, the former Dunbar Grammar School pupil took gold in the T35 100m.

However, it was an event where she was struggling with her mental health and anxiety and she pulled out of the T35 200m.

Positively, she was pleased to say she had enjoyed the event in Poland and was “feeling better”.

The Edinburgh Napier University student said: “I think, for me, it is really just about enjoying it and not taking things too seriously.

“At the end of the day, it is just running and it does not really matter if you win or don’t do as well as you planned to have done.

“Your family and friends are going to still love you for who you are.

“It is remembering that and the main reasons you first got involved in sport.

“It is good to chat with team-mates and really take the edge off the situation.”