FORMER Wells Blue School student Jack Eyers is keen to take part in another Paralympic Games after winning a silver medal in canoeing at the 2024 event in Paris.
Jack finished second in the Men’s VL3 200m sprint, just a fraction of a second behind gold medallist Vladyslav Yepifanov of Ukraine.
“The fact I was just 0.4 of a second off a gold medal, it just lights that fire even more,” he told Wells Voice.
“I’m really, really keen to get to the next one. That’s four years away so one step at a time…”
Jack, aged 35, chose to have his right leg amputated at the age of 16 because of a rare birth defect that left the leg underdeveloped and painful.
He went on to become the first amputee to win the Mr England title, a model, a personal trainer, and a competitor in a number of different sports before excelling at canoeing.
Wins at the European and World Championships followed, driven on by his disappointment at narrowly missing out on selection for the Great Britain team at the Tokyo Olympics.
“It was devastating at the time but I learnt how to channel that frustration into my training. From then I had a couple of successes at the World Championships and the European Championships, so I then built that confidence in my ability and developed my race plans,” he said.
“Being selected for the Games was already a win – being at the Games and being a Paralympian was always the goal and I achieved that.
“I’m so, so pleased to get a medal. My friends and family were there, my daughter was in the crowd watching, my mum and dad, so it was a big moment.”
Jack Eyers with his silver medal
Being at the Games reminded him of being at Glastonbury Festival, he said: “You stepped into a whole new world, it’s a whole different environment where there’s so much going on, there’s so much excitement, so many different nations and sports and elite athletes walking around. It was really cool, really good.”
Just a few days after the Games’ Closing Ceremony, Jack was at the homecoming party for the Great Britain team at Birmingham Arena: “As a team we hadn’t got together and celebrated until that night so it was a really nice opportunity to get everyone together, the pressure was off, it was just about celebrate and enjoy.”
He will be bringing the silver medal with him the next time that he comes to visit his mum, Julie Gray, in Wells.
She said that she and Jack’s stepdad Dave have been big supporters of Jack on his journey, and said: “Jack has always been an inspiration with a can do, will do attitude and zest for life. At 16 he told us he wanted his right leg amputated as it was holding him back. Jack has never looked back, adventure and new opportunities awaited him.
“We feel extremely proud of his accomplishments, especially with the silver medal for Para Canoe at the Paralympics in Paris. He is an all-round good guy for whom we have total respect and most of all love.”