| Lauren Steadman MBE | |
| Nationality: | British |
| Birth Place: | Peterborough, England |
| Height: | 167 cm[1] |
| Sport: | Para swimming Paratriathlon |
| Disability Class: | PT4, PTS5; SB9, S9 |
| Club: | Portsmouth Northsea Portsmouth Athletics Club |
| Show-Medals: | true |
Lauren Steadman (born 18 December 1992) is a British Paralympic athlete who has competed in four Summer Paralympics, in both swimming and the paratriathlon. She competed at both the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing and the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London as a swimmer, before switching to the paratriathlon for the 2016 Games in Rio where she won a silver medal in the Women's PT4.[2] [3] She won the gold medal in the Women's PTS5 at the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
Steadman was born in Peterborough in 1992. She has won medals in 2009 and in 2011 at the IPC European Championships. Her uncle was a triathlete and he suggested she try it.[4] Steadman was educated at Great Gidding Primary School, then privately at the independent Mount Kelly school in Tavistock, Devon,[5] and completed a BSc (Hons) Psychology degree, followed by a master's degree in Business and Management at the University of Portsmouth.
On 20 August 2018 it was announced that Steadman would be a contestant on series 16 of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with AJ Pritchard. They made it to the semi-final but were eliminated by Ashley Roberts and Pasha Kovalev in the dance-off. Steadman went on to perform in the live version of the show.[6] Also, she completed and was one of two finalists in series 2 of .
In 2013[7] and 2014[8] Steadman won medals at the European Championships Paratriathlon. In 2014, she won the London World Series Paratriathlon,[9] gained a degree in Psychology and became the World Champion Paratriathlete in Edmonton, Canada.[10]
Paratriathlon became an Olympic sport at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. Steadman took the Silver medal behind Grace Norman of the US.[4]
Competing in the Women's PTS5 classification at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Steadman overtook Grace Norman early in the cycling leg and maintained her lead through the run to take the gold medal by 41 seconds.[11] [12]
Steadman was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to triathlon.[13]