The Kiwis who resume the medal hunt in Paris

Eleven remarkable wāhine toa. Twelve days of non-stop action. With a team including world champions and hot medal prospects, New Zealand will have plenty to talk about during the Paris Paralympic Games starting on Thursday.
Aotearoa has a prestigious track record at the Paralympic Games. So far, 227 Paralympians have brought home 236 medals. We’ve topped the medals-per-capita table twice – in 2012 and 2016.
It’s 56 years since New Zealand first attended the Paralympics, soon after their inception. Eve Rimmer, the only woman in the 15-strong team at those Games in 1968, won all four of the New Zealand team’s medals.
Since then, things have changed considerably with the Games. In Paris, around 4,400 athletes from 180 nations will compete for the glory of a podium spot – almost six times as many as in 1968. More disabilities are included and there are more sports (22 in total). With a broader support base has come greater opportunities and professionalism and tougher competition.
“Sports classes are getting bigger, so we’ll see fewer upsets,” explains New Zealand chef de mission, Raylene Bates. “The standard is higher than in the past.” 
So what should we expect of the 25-strong New Zealand team (including 11 women) competing in eight sports this time around?
“We have a really diverse team, representing the breadth of New Zealand,” Bates says. “They have a sense of experience about them. Look at the world rankings – we’ve got a lot of athletes in the top five or six in the world, who are going to make the finals. Once you’re in the final, the win could be anybody’s.”
Here are the Kiwi wāhine who will compete in Paris:
Para athletics, a cornerstone of Paralympic sport, has a proud legacy here in Aotearoa – it’s one of our top Para sports in the medal tally. Six athletes are ready to represent us in Paris.
Twenty-nine-year-old Robinson (Ngāi Tahu) is the most experienced woman in our Paralympic Team. The Tokyo gold medallist in javelin has kept us gripped in the battle of the two Hollies, competing neck-and-neck with Wales’ Hollie Arnold over a decade. Robinson was left with silver to Arnold’s gold in Rio 2016, but Robinson topped the podium five years later. 
Going into her fourth Games, Robinson intends to also compete in her first love, shot put – added to the Paralympic programme for her classification this time around. 
After breaking her fingers in the gym, as well as an operation on her elbow following a car accident, the West Coast athlete has kept a low profile since Tokyo. Anticipate some jaw-dropping surprises as she keeps her competitors on their toes until the very last second.
When to watch her: Women’s shot put F46, 10pm Wednesday Sept 4 (NZ time); women’s javelin F46, 5am Saturday Sept 7.
With almost as much experience as Robinson is another South Island athlete, Anna Grimaldi. The Dunedin long jumper won gold in both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. In dominant form over the past year, she’s looking to complete the long jump hat-trick in Paris.
Grimaldi, chosen as New Zealand’s female flagbearer in Paris, is also competing in two sprint events, following a shock medal in the 100m in last year’s Para athletics world championships. 
Born without a right hand, the 27-year-old has spoken openly about her journey to celebrate her body instead of trying to hide it. She agreed to star in Paralympics New Zealand’s hard-hitting 2024 publicity campaign, that seeks to challenge perceptions of disability, saying: “I am the person I am because I grew up in a body that’s disabled.”
When to watch her: Women’s 100m T47, heat 10.45pm Tuesday Sept 3; final 6.115am Wednesday Sept 4. Women’s long jump T47, 8pm Friday Sept 6. Women’s 200m T47, heat 10.40pm Saturday Sept 7; final 5.40am Sunday Sept 8.
Waikato speedster Aitchison claimed bronze and silver sprinting in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. Now she’s faster than ever, and holds the T36 200m world record. 
Aitchison has cerebral palsy, which causes a loss of muscle control. She’s also deaf, and almost left sport behind due to the barriers this caused in team sports. Thankfully, she found her calling in Para athletics. All eyes are on the 22-year-old to snatch gold and complete her Paralympic podium collection.
When to watch her: Women’s 200m T36, heat 7.25am Sunday Sept 1; final 10.30pm Sunday Sept 1. Women’s 100m T36, heat 10.55pm Wednesday Sept 4; final 5.05am Thursday Sept 5.
Tokyo 2020 was Anna Steven’s Paralympic debut, where she not only made the 200m final but also smashed an Oceania record in the heats. The Auckland-based blade-runner lost her right lower leg due to a childhood cancer.
Frustratingly, Steven missed a chance at the 100m final in Tokyo due to a false start in the heat. Paris gives her an all-important opportunity to set the record straight. 
When to watch her: Women’s 200m T64, heat 8.30pm Tuesday Sept 3; final 5.50am Wednesday Sept 4.
This popular Para sport has grown from strength to strength since Aotearoa first contested it at the Sydney 2000 Paralympics. In Paris, the thrills start with track cycling in the velodrome in the first half of the schedule, with road cycling in the second half of the Games. Many of the Kiwi competitors are all-rounders who contest both disciplines.
Tokyo 2020 Paralympian Anna Taylor has battled significant health challenges to make it onto the team for Paris. Yet, Taylor’s recent form has impressed: in 2023 she gained a world title and she followed this up with a time trial silver medal at the 2024 world championships.
Formerly a competitive rower, Taylor sustained a spinal cord injury, making her eligible for the C4 sports class in Para cycling.
When to watch her: Women’s C4 3000m Individual Pursuit, qualification 10.10pm Friday Aug 30; final 1.20am Saturday Aug 31. Women’s C4 Individual Time Trial, 6pm Wednesday Sept 4.
Also a Tokyo debutante, Murray is one of New Zealand’s top athletes today. The C5 cyclist won best Summer Female Athlete in the 2022 Para Sport Awards, and she was a Laureus Award finalist in 2023.
A lawnmower accident as a child led to Murray losing her right hand. She has three world titles to her name from her track cycling success – but don’t rule her out of a medal in road cycling too.
When to watch her: C4-5 Women’s 500m Time Trial, qualification 10pm Thursday Aug 29; final 1.50am Friday Aug 30. C5 3000m Individual Pursuit, qualification 10pm Sunday Sept 1; final 12.30am Monday Sept 2. C5 Individual Time Trial, 6pm Wednesday Sept 4. C4-5 Road Race, 7.30pm Friday Sept 6.
One of the earliest Para sports, there is a thriving Para swimming programme in Aotearoa and many Kiwi Para swimmers have claimed international fame over the years. The most famous is Dame Sophie Pascoe, who won’t be competing for the first time in 16 years – the new mum hosting TVNZ ‘s Games coverage this time around. Two of the five-strong Para swimming contingent, Gabriella Smith and Lili-Fox Mason, are swimmers starting their Paralympic journey in their teenage years.
Neiufi burst onto the Paralympic scene at just 16 in Rio 2016, with an impressive seventh place in the 100m backstroke. Fast forward to Tokyo 2020, and the Tongan dynamo became an overnight sensation with a gold medal in backstroke. Adding more bling to her collection, she snagged silver at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham 2022.
Partially paralysed on her left side after being hit by a car at two years old, Neiufi competes in the S8 class in backstroke and freestyle.
When to watch her: Women’s 100m Backstroke S8, heat 8.10pm Saturday Aug 31; final 4am Sunday Sept 1. Women’s 50m Freestyle S8, heat 9.10pm Thursday Sept 5; final 5.50am Friday Sept 6.
At just 18, and the youngest member in the NZ team, rising star Smith has loved swimming since she was three months old. Born with a limb deficiency, she’s already made a splash with impressive finishes at three world championships.
A good friend and training buddy of another Paralympic swimming debutant, Lili-Fox Mason, watch out for Smith in the S10 freestyle and SB9 breaststroke.
When to watch her: Women’s 100m Breaststroke SB9, heat 9pm Friday Aug 30; final 5.15am Saturday Aug 31. Women’s 400m Freestyle S10, heat 7.55pm Thursday Sept 5; final 3.50am Friday Sept 6. Women’s 200m Individual Medley SM10, heat 7.40pm Saturday Sept 7; final 3.37am Sunday Sept 8.
Mason found freedom in swimming after childhood leukaemia left her right leg paralysed. It soon became more than a hobby, though, and her international debut in 2022 opened her eyes to how far swimming could take her.
She’s delivered strong performances on the world stage since, despite some injury niggles. The S10 swimmer will compete in butterfly and freestyle in Paris.
When to watch her: Women’s 100m Butterfly S10, heat 9.35pm Tuesday Sept 3; final 6.25am Wednesday Sept 4. Women’s 400m Freestyle S10, heat 7.55pm Thursday Sept 5; final 3.50am Friday Sept 6.
Dressage is a discipline which includes both art and athleticism: judges watch the movement of the horse in set movements or freestyle compositions and rate the equestrian skills of the rider. Jayne Craike is Aotearoa’s most accomplished Para equestrian to date, and a pioneer of the sport in this country.
When she contracted a deadly strain of meningitis aged 17, Duncan was already an aspiring rider in a family of successful equestrians. When doctors told her to forget about riding a horse again, she refused to concede. Now, almost 20 years later, the grade IV rider and her horse Showcase BC have earned their spot on the NZ Paralympic Team.
The tightly-bonded duo will be thrilling to watch: not only is it rare to see a New Zealander compete at this level in dressage, but the event will take place in the stunning setting of the Palace of Versailles. 
When to watch her: Dressage Individual Grade IV Para Grand Prix Test, 7.30pm Wednesday Sept 4. Para Dressage Grade IV Individual Freestyle Event, 8pm Saturday Sept 7.
Paralympians have been representing Aotearoa at the Paralympics in Shooting Para sport since 1980, mainly in air rifle. Only one of those Paralympians has been a woman, until the arrival of Neelam O’Neill, aiming to make history in Paris.
O’Neill first felt the rush of hitting a tiny target when she shot cans with a slug gun on holiday aged seven. Now, she’s set to become Aotearoa’s first female air pistol shooter at the Paralympics, and only the second Kiwi woman to contest air rifle.
Contesting both disciplines – one with her left hand and the other with her right – is just one of a number of ways that O’Neill challenges expectations. She’s also proud to be breaking down barriers as a disabled woman of colour in a sport dominated by men. O’Neill, who has spina bifida, competes in the SH1 class.
When to watch her: R2 10m Air Pistol SH1, qualification 10pm Saturday Aug 31; final 12.45am Sunday Sept 1. R3 Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1, qualification 7.30pm Sunday Sept 1; final 11pm Sunday Sept 1.