Para-cyclist Unwin gearing up for Glasgow with new pilot

Double Paralympic champion Sophie Unwin is ready to represent England at this summer's Commonwealth Games, but she will do so with a new pilot at the front of her tandem.

Wiltshire-born Unwin's partner from her past two Paralympic successes in Tokyo and Paris - Jenny Holl - will be competing for Scotland in Glasgow and so she will be guided by Sylvia Misztal.

"Sylvia is brand new to piloting, coming in for the Games, so it is a really exciting time for both of us," Unwin told BBC Radio Wiltshire.

"It's all been about learning to ride with a different person and see how we get on together. I am confident we can do well.

"Normally we train as one big GB team, but for this we now have to all split up. We have a lot of people who would normally be our team-mates are now competing for a different team."

Preparation is well under way for the event, starting on 23 July, and Unwin, who is visually impaired, shared the importance of how a good pilot can make the difference at the top.

"There is a big skillset needed to ride on the front of the tandem, you are both working to put out as much power as each other at the same time, so both of you have to be elite-level athletes," she added.

"The pilot also has to be good at handling a bike. Handling a tandem can be different to a normal solo bike because it is twice the length and twice the weight. It moves differently too, so there are a lot of skills in that.

"Then they have to be able to communicate with the person on the back about what is happening, and what you need to do."

Unwin and Holl have formed a formidable partnership for Team GB in recent years, claiming 3,000m individual pursuit and Road Race tandem B Gold in Paris, along with a time trial Silver and 1,000m time trial Bronze in the French capital.

Three years earlier in Tokyo, the pair claimed a Silver in the road race tandem B discipline.

Further success has come in the form of consecutive para-cycling road World Championship Golds in 2021 and 2022, individual pursuit golds at the para-cycling track world championships in 2022, 2023, and 2025 and a further time trial and sprint gold in 2023.

It is a trophy cabinet that looks even more impressive for Unwin considering she only sat on a tandem for the first time in August 2020.

A talent call for visually-impaired female athletes went out in the run up to the re-arranged Tokyo games and the 31-year-old has not looked back since.

"It still feels new in my head every time," said Unwin, after having her participation in Glasgow officially confirmed.

"I have done a few of these major games now, so hopefully that can continue. I took it [cycling] up quite late, I never had any dreams or aspirations of being an athlete, I was not a sporty child.

"They paired me up with a very good pilot for the [Tokyo] games and everything seemed to come together exactly right for it."