A PARALYMPIC champion, Strictly Come Dancing contestant, and nominee for Sports Personality of the Year spoke to the Slough Observer about his life, career, and an upcoming event for disabled people in the area.

Jonnie Peacock, 24, has won gold a number of times in the 100m sprint in the Paralympic Games in London and Rio, and has recently left BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing after competing for an impressive nine weeks.

Mr Peacock will be coming to the area on Sunday, to help host the ‘Winter Wonderwheels’ event at Dorney Lake, from 11am. It is a ‘no-pressure’ fun run around the Lake for disabled people.

Mr Peacock said: “It’s an awesome event – there’s no pressure, so I encourage everyone to come and enjoy the day. Some people can be nervous about it, but it caters to everybody, and you can bring a friend or family member to help you out.”

In a similar event this summer, over 1,500 people attended, a number Mr Peacock hopes to match this winter.

Mr Peacock said: “Everyone at the summer event had such as good time – everyone I spoke to said they loved it, they had no regrets.”

Speaking about his recent nomination for Sports Personality of the Year, Mr Peacock said: “It’s an incredible honor, it’s one of the biggest awards in sport. It shows the strides forward disabled sport has taken – we’ve had one of the best years for disabled athletics.

“The 2012 Paralympics were fantastic, over 80,000 people bought seats, which was unheard of. And for the 2017 World Championships, more people bought tickets than ever before.”

Mr Peacock claimed gold in the 100m sprint in the 2017 World Championships in London. He said: “I’d had a bit of a cramp beforehand, so it was amazing to win the race - I didn’t think I’d finish.”

Regarding his recent departure from Strictly Come Dancing, Mr Peacock added: “It was an incredible opportunity., to be the first disabled contestant and shows how far disability has come in this country. The judges didn’t treat me any differently, which is how it should be.”

To find out more about the Winter Wonderwheels event visit: http://superheroseries.co.uk/winter-wonderwheels-2017/