WEDNESDAY, August 28 is the official start date of the 2024 Paralympics and the county of Devon is set to be represented on the biggest stage of them all.
One of the many Team GB athletes making the trip to Paris is Totnes resident Krysten Coombs.
Following his inclusion in the squad back in June, the 33-year-old spoke to the GB media team and had this to say: “Standing on the Paralympic podium in Tokyo was the proudest moment of my career and I can’t wait for the opportunity to do so again in Paris.”
The badminton player won bronze in 2020, adding an Olympic medal to his wealth of European Championship and World Championship titles.
Talking to BBC Radio Devon, Krysten said that, "Obviously, the dream is to win a gold, but if I could upgrade that [bronze] medal it would be amazing or even stay the same again.”
"To experience the whole thing and being there is a dream… I've got the results. I've got the backing and I'm feeling confident and niggle free and ready to go now," he continued.
As well as competing individually, Coombs has quite the sporting relationship with Jack Shephard, winning a number of his titles with him, but Shephard will instead be competing in the mixed doubles.
Thursday, August 29 is the general start date for the badminton group play matches, with the SH6 semi-finals set for Tuesday, September 1, before the finals take place the following day.
SH6 is the category in which Krysten competes and he is one-quarter of the Great Britain team, alongside Rachel Choong (Shephard’s doubles teammate), Daniel Bethell and the aforementioned Jack Shephard.
Badminton made its debut at the Paralympic games in Tokyo, when Krysten won bronze, so he was standing on a very historic podium indeed.
La Chapelle Arena is the venue and being in Paris itself means that the Great British quartet will be in the heart of all of the action.
Jack and Rachel are also a part of the SH6 qualification whilst Daniel is SL3, so the schedule for his games will be slightly different than Krysten and co.
Daniel won silver in Tokyo, Jack won back-to-back European titles in 2017 and 2019, making a remarkable comeback from injury and Rachel has 10 World and 10 European Championships to her name, so they make up quite the team.
One major difference between Japan and France is the return of a live crowd. Coombs told BBC Radio Devon about just how exciting that is for him: "I've got loads of friends and family coming over which is going to be amazing, [after] going to Tokyo and not having that experience with your loved ones and the people that supported you for so many years.”
Fingers crossed that the family support will help Krysten to another Olympic medal!