Representing Great Britain at an incredible eighth Paralympic Games this summer in Paris, 45-year-old Jody Cundy continues his remarkable para-cycling career – one defined by both excellence and longevity – in search of further medals to add to his substantial collection.

Born in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, Cundy started swimming at the age of 10, making his international debut in 1994.

Cundy would go on to swim for Great Britain at three Paralympic Games, winning three gold and two bronze medals. A year after Athens 2004, he rode on the track for the first time, at Newport Velodrome, and his potential quickly brought him to the attention of the Great Britain Cycling Team.

While still swimming for GB, he was selected for the Para-cycling world cup team and rode the team sprint, setting a new world record alongside Darren Kenny and Mark Bristow.

That performance was enough to convince Cundy to concentrate fully on cycling which quickly produced a gold medal and world record in the C4 1km time-trial (‘kilo’) at his debut UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Aigle, Switzerland in the summer of 2006.

That success was just the start of a glittering career on the track. Two gold medals followed at the 2007 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Bordeaux, France, in the kilo and team sprint, the events that he targeted at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games the following year.

In China, Cundy had an incredibly successful first Games, breaking the world record on the way to winning the kilo in a time of 1:05.466 before claiming his second gold medal of the Games, alongside Kenny and Bristow, in the team sprint final defeating China by over a second.

His achievements were recognised when he was awarded an MBE in the 2009 New Year Honours list, for his services to the two sports adding an OBE in 2017, and a CBE in 2022.

On the track, Cundy’s trademark kilo and team sprint double saw him claim world titles at the 2009 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Manchester, and in Montichiari, Italy, two years later. At the latter, Cundy added a silver in the individual pursuit as he prepared for London 2012.

The Paralympic year began at the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Los Angeles in February, with Cundy collecting a full set of medals; gold in the kilo, silver with Kenny and Sarah Storey in the mixed team sprint and a bronze in the individual pursuit.

But the London Paralympics did not go according to plan. Favourite for gold in the kilo, a slip out of the start gate denied Cundy the opportunity to defend his Paralympic title with officials refusing his appeal for a restart. With resilience, he went on to win bronze in the individual pursuit.

Following London 2012, Cundy clinched gold in seven successive UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in the kilo, from 2014 to 2020. He also made a winning return to the team sprint in Montichiari in 2016, joining Jon Allan Butterworth and Louis Rolfe to win gold in a new world record time of 49.268. Later that year, Cundy made up for the disappointment of missing out on gold in London by winning two Paralympic titles in Rio de Janeiro, in the kilo and the team sprint with Rolfe and Butterworth. Both performances resulted in new world record times.

Cundy's unbeaten streak in the kilo continued over the years that followed, with world titles in Los Angeles in 2017, Rio de Janeiro in 2018, Apeldoorn in 2019 and Milton in 2020. 

Following the covid-19 pandemic, Cundy was selected for the delayed 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, where he became the first male Great British athlete to medal at seven consecutive Games when he claimed silver in the kilo. Two days later, in a newly configured mixed team sprint squad featuring Kadeena Cox and Jaco van Gass, Cundy celebrated victory, taking gold in a new world record time ahead of then-world champions China. He could not defend his world title that year however, as there were no world championships on the track due to the pandemic.

In 2022, Cundy returned to winning ways in the kilo, celebrating his 13th consecutive world title in Paris, where he also claimed another gold in the mixed team sprint with Cox and van Gass. 2023 saw Cundy extend his run of victories in the kilo to 14 as he once again clinched the world title, at the home mixed discipline world championships in Glasgow. Later that year he took part in the BBC television show Strictly Come Dancing.

In this Paralympic year, Cundy shows no sign of relinquishing his iron grip on the event that has come to define his para-cycling career. He won his 15th world title in the kilo at the UCI Para-Cycling Track World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, earlier in the year, also taking silver in the team sprint.

The world kilo record set by Cundy in Aguascalientes, Mexico, in 2014, of 1:01.466, still stands. The British star also holds the C4 world record for the flying 200m time trial, breaking his own record to set a new time of 10.427 at the world championships in Glasgow in 2023. He will take on his eighth Games this summer in Paris, aiming to add to his considerable legacy within the sport, and further define his place in Paralympic history as one of the greatest British athletes of all time.