Lauren Rowles among nominees for BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year

Lauren Rowles, Paralympic Games gold medal winner, is among ten sports stars nominated for the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award

Paralympic champion Lauren Rowles is among the ten sports stars nominated for the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award.

Eighteen-year-old Rowles stormed to victory with Laurence Whiteley in the TA mixed double sculls at Rio 2016, one of three gold medals for Great Britain from the Games.

Having switched to rowing from athletics at the start of 2015, Rowles only had 18 months to learn the sport and build a winning partnership with Whiteley, with the pair taking silver in their first World Championships together in 2015.

Twelve months later and Rowles was watching the Great Britain flag rising up the middle flag pole in Rio, having set a new world record in the heats and following it up with another win in the final to take the gold.

Rowles completed her A levels before heading out to Rio and is now combining her rowing with studying at Oxford Brookes University.

Among the other nominees for the Young Sports Personality of the Year award are last year’s winner Ellie Downie (gymnastics), Olympic bronze medallist Amy Tinkler (gymnastics) and Paralympic silver medallist Tom Hamer (swimming).