Samuel Carter

EVENTS:  T54 1500m

AGE:  31 (DOB 6 Aug 1991)

COACH:  Fred Periac

STATE: ACT

AUSTRALIAN TEAM DEBUT: 2011 World Para-Athletics Championships

PERSONAL BESTS: 2:59.11 (22 Mar 2022)

BIOGRAPHY

Swimming and basketball held Sam Carter’s sporting interest until a conversation with Sydney 2000 gold medallist in the same event (100m T54) Geoff Trappett at a Queensland Sporting Wheelies event. That steered Sam towards the track and had immediate effect when he broke his age group records for 100m, 200m and 400m in 2008.

Less than three years later he was off on his first senior Australian team to the 2011 World Para-Athletics Championships in Christchurch. He went to the next two World titles - in Lyon in 2013 and Doha in 2015 – to finish sixth in the 100m at both events. Selected for his first Paralympic Games in Rio, Sam again finished sixth in the 100m final in 14.46s.

Under the tutelage of one of Australia’s finest wheelchair racers, Fred Periac, Sam’s sprinting started to come to the fore.
At the 2019 World Para-Athletics Championships in Dubai he finished just short of the podium with a 14.12 for 4th. It was a tough pill to swallow as he clocked 13.94 in the heats, which would have won him the gold medal in the final.

In 2021 Sam was selected for his second Paralympics Games in Tokyo where he placed fifth in the T54 100m and ran in the 400m heats.

Not initially in the competitive T54 1500m Commonwealth top-8 rankings, Sam was later offered a place for Birmingham, going on to win bronze in 3:12.82 – his first medal for Australia in his seventh National team.

In May, Sam Carter was named in his eight Australian team to compete in the T54 100m at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships. It is his fifth world championships team, following his debut in 2011.

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Recently in an interview, wheelchair racer Sam Carter recalled watching the Paralympics as a 10-year-old boy. He said, “Every time I show up at the village, it's like I get a mental high-five from 10-year-old Sam.”
His advise to his 10-year-old self: “Get out there. If you work hard, you can do it. It's totally within reach.”

Hobbies: watching films, music and reading…Memorable sporting moment: make the Rio T54 100m final…Most influential person in career: His father…Impairment: Born with spina bifida.

@ 15 June 2023 david.tarbotton@athletics.org.au