Sam Ruddock

Samuel Ruddock (born 18 February 1990) is a Paralympic athlete who represented Great Britain in the T35 classification in 2012 in the 100 metres and in the F35 classification in 2016 in the shot put. He subsequently turned to track cycling, in which he won gold medals in the C1 classification at the 2022 and 2023 UCI World Championships.

Early life and education Ruddock is from Rugby, Warwickshire. He was diagnosed in infancy with spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy that limits the coordination of his lower body.

He was educated at Bishop Wulstan School and Rugby School, where he took A-levels in English, History and Economics on a scholarship. In school he played basketball, then rugby. He earned a bachelor's degree in International Relations at Loughborough University, where he played American football . In December 2011, athletics coach Joe McDonnell scouted him as a sprinter during an NFL-combine session, and he started full-time training in March 2012.

Competitive career Ruddock ran his first official races in April 2012 and was classified as a T35 by the International Paralympic Committee the following month. At the 2017 IPC World Championships in London, he placed seventh. he placed first again at the 2023 UCI World Championships in Glasgow, where he also won bronze in Omnium. In 2023 he also competed for Great Britain in the in Huntsville, Alabama. He also works with the Kadeena Cox Academy, a black cyclists' initiative. Police confirmed four days later that he had been located safe.