When Sammi Kinghorn crossed the finish line of her last marathon, in March 2018, her words were reminiscent of Steve Redgrave’s almost thirty years prior. Never again, she asserted, would she ever do a marathon.
Those 26.2 miles at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, in which she finished in fourth place were, she said at the time, “absolutely awful”. Yet, in the same way that Redgrave back-peddled on his promise never to be seen in a boat again, Kinghorn, too, has reneged on her pledge never to attempt a marathon again.
Tomorrow, the 29-year-old will be on the start line for the London Marathon Wheelchair race.
The timing of this return to the marathon is, from the outside anyway, surprising.
Less than a year ago, at Paris 2024, Kinghorn achieving the goal she has been working towards for over a decade; she became Paralympic champion.
Her Paralympic triumph in the T53 100m last September ensured Kinghorn completed the full set of European, World and Paralympic gold medals and even still, seven months on from that remarkable two weeks - she also won four silver medals in Paris - the joy and relief is unmistakeable in Kinghorn’s voice.
“Before I actually won gold in Paris, I had wondered if it would ever happen,” she says.
“To achieve it was a huge relief but afterwards, I was mentally very, very tired. I felt exhausted because I'd been in this hyper state for so long and that takes a toll.”
The Borders woman has talked openly about the crippling nerves she experiences pre-race, regularly throwing up just minutes before she heads to the start line.
A sabbatical from the high-pressure sprint events in which she has excelled was, then, the idea that came to mind when Kinghorn was pondering her plan for 2025 and so, given she’s never one to do things by half, the London Marathon became her primary target.
While the physical exertion of training for 26.2 miles rather than just a few hundred metres has been understandably taxing, Kinghorn has revelled in this being her target for the year rather than winning major championship medals, which has consumed her for so long.
“Becoming Paralympic champion, I had achieved all my dreams and so I then wanted to do something where there was no pressure and allow myself to just enjoy racing," she says.
“I got married in January and so the timing of London is great and training hard is not difficult for me so I wasn't daunted by that aspect of the marathon.
“It's cool going into a race knowing there's no pressure. Nobody cares how I do and you never know, maybe I'll be quite good at it.”
Having become so accustomed to stadium racing, what Kinghorn is most relishing this weekend is racing around the streets of London and experiencing the atmosphere in the capital that has become so synonymous with this race.
“When I'm in stadiums doing the sprints, my races are so short I often don't hear the crowd because I'm so dialled into my race. So I feel like I'm missing out on that whereas in London, I'll have loads of time to take in the atmosphere and I just want to enjoy the experience.
"Everyone I've spoken to says the London crowds are just amazing and that's what I'm most looking forward to this weekend,” she says.
“It’s going to be a tough race though, because these are some of the very best endurance athletes ever.
“The start is really important because you want to get into the pack and then you have to know at what points to recover and what points to push hard.
“There's going to be a lot of girls around me, though, and I'll be pushing with other people so I'm hoping that makes the miles go faster.”
Kinghorn has ambitions to make her fourth Paralympic appearance in LA in 2028 and if she wants to head across the Atlantic in three years with a real prospect of adding more golds to her collection, she knows that, perhaps counterintuitively, this London Marathon is exactly the change she needs.
“I’m lucky that my work paid off and I got that gold medal in Paris but my goodness, I'm knackered from it and so I was forced to think about what I need to do for my longevity,” she says.
“Some people can cope with the pressure year after year but it was affecting me, and I don't want to look back at all my races and just remember being sick before them. I want to remember happy stuff but at the moment, the thought of getting on a track just makes me feel nervous.
“Currently, I'm second in the world rankings, and I could probably comfortably stay in second for quite a few more years. But no, I want to go out there and challenge for number one. And the only way I can do that is if I take some time out now. I'm going to train just as hard as I always have, but I'm going to give my mind a break.
“I feel like I've earned the right to do this - to have a year off dashing around the world and just focus on bettering myself.
“So I think this year will make me a better person as well as a better athlete.”
