Laurence Whiteley

Background Whiteley, who is from Northallerton, North Yorkshire, attended Hurworth House School and Polam Hall School. He competed in triathlons as a youth and was the British Triathlon regional champion for the 13–14 age group. and was given only a 30% chance of survival by doctors. He had surgery to remove the tumour, during which his knee joint and part of his fibula were removed, and further surgery to replace the joint and insert titanium rods into his leg. He learned to walk again after a year of physiotherapy. Since 2014 he has trained with the national squad in Caversham, Berkshire.

After searching for over two years for a suitable partner to compete with in Paralympic double sculls, Whiteley teamed up with Lauren Rowles, a former wheelchair racer who had recently switched to rowing, in early 2015. Their first major championship together was the 2015 World Rowing Championships, where they won the silver medal in the TAMix2x trunk-arms mixed double sculls. At the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio, they set a world record in the heats and went on to win gold in the final.