Beau Wootton (cycling) secured the bronze in the men’s tandem B sprint with sighted pilot Luke Zaccaria at his first Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. The pair was also 4th in tandem time trial B.

The final Commonwealth Games Australia Emerging Athlete of the Month for 2022 was born with the genetic condition optic atrophy that interferes with messages from the eye to the brain. Wootton started serious cycling at about 14 years old but had 18 months off the sport after finishing school.

He had never thought about tandem cycling until he was paired with Mike Hoile, captain of the Black Chrome cycling team, and they won the national men’s road title. It was part of the Tandem Project, the brainchild of the Beau’s late mentor Kieran Modra, who thought that if more pilot riders could be found and trained, then more para riders would take up the event.

Wootton was named as part of the Para-cycling group for AusCycling Podium Potential Academy in early 2022 and won gold in the tandem time trial and silver in the sprint the track nationals ahead of the Birmingham Games.