Last year Erin McBride marked her international debut at the age of 15 with bronze at the IPC World Championships in Lyon.

Fast forward 12 months and the Liverpool Harrier is now a European Champion after winning gold in the T13 100m in Swansea. However, her first major medal was just minutes from not being a reality after sustaining injury in the 400m where she finished second (McBride wasn’t awarded a medal due to only two competitors taking part).

Faced with the dilemma of going home without a medal or risking further injury, the 16 year old made the brave decision of lining up on the start line after some wise words from GB & NI captain Mikail Huggins.

“It was devastating to not do well in the 400m, but after speaking to Mikail (Libby Clegg’s guide runner and GB & NI captain in Swansea) he said sometimes you win some, and sometimes you lose some. Not winning the 400m meant that I didn’t want to go home empty handed so I knew I had to give everything into the 100m.”

McBride, who was born with cataracts, which developed into glaucoma leaving her with 15% vision in her left eye and sites visually impaired teammate Clegg as one of her inspirations in the sport. 

“Libby has been a real motivation in helping me accept it (her eye condition). She’s achieved so much with the Commonwealth Games gold and what she did at the London Paralympics as well.”

“Like Libby, I find it difficult to train because not everybody knows I’ve got my eye condition. So if I don’t see people, or I’m running, I won’t see them until the last possible moment. This can mean that I run into people from time to time.”

It’s a big two years for McBride with the IPC World Championships in Doha next October followed by the Paralympic Games in Rio 2016, and winning medals has given her a little taste of what she wants to achieve.

“I’m focusing all my training on it. I don’t want to come home from Doha with a bronze medal again. I want to get that gold like I did at the Europeans, which shows I’ve got the capability to produce at other competitions.”

I’m hoping to improve my running a lot, whether that’s focusing around the 400m or 100m. I think I could take a few seconds off the 400m with the team I’ve got around me. I just want to get through next year injury free, qualify for Doha and hopefully all the winter training this season will pay off.”

McBride is currently ranked sixth and seventh on the 2014 world rankings for the 100m and 400m respectively but being 13 and 18 years younger than the world leaders this year, she believes that she has age firmly on her side.

“Medal wise I’m looking more towards Tokyo 2020 which is probably more realistic.  I think Rio will be a great learning experience and I will go out to win a medal but my competitors have experienced more than I have. I had major competitions, but not to the level of a Paralympic Games.”

Whilst medal success is firmly on her agenda, the Liverpudlian has to combine her athletics career with A Level studies. After successfully navigating her way through her GCSEs, the teenager has now two years of Biology, Psychology and PE on her to do list. Despite the workload and sacrifices she made, McBride believes the journey so far has been all worth it.

“It’s been difficult not being able to go out with my friends and not taking a break. I need to do well in both my athletics and education and if I didn’t put in the dedication that I do, I couldn’t say I’m a European gold medallist or in the British team.”

McBride was fortunate enough to share another one of the best moments in Swansea seeing her roommate Maria Lyle soar to two gold medals at the age of 14. In what was a role reversal from last year, she welcomed the Scottish sprint prodigy with open arms into the camp.

“I completely understood how Maria felt not knowing anybody on the team. When I was in Lyon I had Hannah Cockroft and Hollie Arnold who took me under their wings and looked after me. With Maria being that new person I wanted to do that for her too.

“I think a lot of people look up to Maria, but I think she’ll be doing the same because of her age. She’s lovely and I think that she will be that person now who will welcome new people into the team."