'Paralympic sport is brilliant - the more exposure we get the better'
"I was never necessarily inspired by anyone, I just wanted to see how far I could go..."
Will Perry has gone very far in a short space of time when it comes to swimming, far enough to represent Team Great Britain at the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2021 in fact. He is not competing at the Para World Swimming Championships currently taking place in Manchester, but has provided his thoughts on the competition and given his swathes of experience at the highest level, when Perry talks it's worth listening.
The 22-year-old has multiple British records to his name, including in the SB6 100m Breaststroke. Perry, who has a common form of dwarfism called achondroplasia, has shed light on his stance on the championships currently taking place, waxing lyrical about the impact it could have.
"I think it is brilliant, I am really for inclusivity around different disabilities but I don’t agree with other people protesting and slamming it in people’s faces. I really love positive role models, going out there and doing what they do and for others to look at them and follow," Perry added.
"I think the world championships in Manchester is a really good example of that, there’s going to be lots of different people with different disabilities wandering around town, it gets people intrigued, it gets people interested, there aren’t many tickets remaining so there’s obviously a lot of interest in the sport itself. I think the more competitions we do, the more exposure we get and it’s brilliant."
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For those competing in the championships on behalf of Team GB, Perry also had some words of wisdom and encouraged them to use the home crowd to their advantage while recalling his own experiences in front of a home crowd.
Will Perry has represented Team GB at Paralympic level (Getty Images)"I’ve never actually represented Great Britain on home soil, but I have represented England. Which is just phenomenal, I don’t think they even care what your name is, if they just hear ‘Will Perry - Team England’ then it’s ‘Yes!’, this roar.
"We were told in the call-up room to look up at the crowd as we came out and the crowd was amazing, it is not something you can replicate, it’s not something you can fake.
"It is unbelievable and knowing you’ve got that home advantage, I think it is an advantage, especially if you’ve got a really good race going on in the last 25 metres, people really go nuts."
Will Perry has waxed lyrical about the impact the World Para Swimming championships can have (PA)The training regime that goes into ensuring a swimmer is primed and ready for those last 25 meters is particularly gruelling, as Perry explains. "I do nine sessions a week, half of which are in the morning, I get up at 4:20am and then swim from 5:30 to 7:30, then we do gym from 8:00 to 10ish.
"We’ll do an evening session from 7pm so I’ve got a large chunk of the day where I normally get on with other activities."
The championships are now well underway and Perry has shed light on how he would be tackling the competition.
"It is something I can only dream of, it is something I am working towards," he confessed. "It is just unbelievable, the emotions and it is very special winning at home can’t speak for the other and I can speak for the other athletes but if it was me personally, I’d be going for gold more than anything else."
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