Jonnie Peacock “ready to fight” for third Paralympic gold in Paris 2024

Peacock made history at the 2012 London Paralympics when, as a teenager, he won gold in the T44 100m, shortly after setting a world record of 10.85 seconds.

A second Paralympic title, two World Championship titles and two European Championship titles followed by 2017, but since then, gold has proven difficult to come by during what he describes as a “hot” period.

Referring to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, he added: “I'm still upset about what happened three years ago. I'm getting the opportunity to make amends for that mistake. I'm going to go in there, go to war, and I'm going to be ready to fight, and hopefully all my competitors are ready too, because there's going to be a battle.”

“This is my fourth time and also my fourth competition. For all the other athletes in this field, it is only the second time. I also have experience with 80,000 people going crazy.

“Whether they will be as crazy for me remains to be seen, but I am really looking forward to it and can’t wait to get into the stadium and feel what it’s like.

“For me, pressure is part of my toolbox. The more pressure I am put under, the faster I run. I know that not all of my competitors can say that.”

Peacock is impressed by the advertising for the Paralympics he sees as he travels around Paris, saying it “feels like everything is back to normal” after the 2016 Rio Games were cancelled due to financial problems and the 2020 Tokyo Games were held without fans due to Covid-19.

“Driving around and seeing the Paralympians on the posters is really cool. In that respect it feels like London again,” he said.

“Ticket sales sound good, hopefully we will see sold-out stadiums and a lot of noise.”

The Brit is already thinking about a career after Paris and has every intention of taking part in the Paralympics in Los Angeles for the fifth time in 2028.

“I'm still going to be here, you're not going to get rid of me yet,” he said. “This year is actually the first year in a while that I've felt good.”

“I'm not leaving yet, there's a lot more in my body. I feel like we're just getting back to where we left off, so you'll see me in LA, touch wood.”