Charlotte Henshaw is a former BritishParalympic swimmer. She competed in SB6, SM8 and S8 category events, representing Great Britain in both the 2011 IPC World Championships and the 2012 Summer Paralympics, winning a silver medal in both championships, followed by a bronze at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. In early 2017, Henshaw announced her retirement from swimming to become a competitive paracanoeist. Starting canoe-training in late 2016, she made her international debut at the European Champions in Bulgaria - winning a silver medal - and the World championships in the Czech Republic during 2017. The 2018 season saw Henshaw add both World Cup & European Silver during May and June. Henshaw competed at her 2nd Paracanoe World Championships in August 2018. She won bronze in the VL3 200m and became World Champion in the KL2 200m - her first international Paracanoe title.
Swimming career history
Henshaw was born in Mansfield, England in 1987. She was born with bilateral tibial hypoplasia - her lower legs were under-developed, which resulted in her legs being amputated above the knee when she was 18 months old. She began swimming at the age of four, and progressed through Nottinghamshire swimming development system before joining the Nova Centurion swimming club at the age of 12. She first represented Great Britain at the age of 16 when she swam at the Danish Open. In 2005 she moved to Scotland to study Psychology and Sports Studies at the University of Stirling. While at Stirling she combined her studies with training, and was selected to represent Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. At Beijing she competed in just one event, the SB6 100m breaststroke, and posted a time of 1:45.28 to come in fourth. Henshaw's next major tournament was the 2009 IPC European Championship. She entered the S8 400m freestyle, the SM8 200m individual medley and the SB6 100m breaststroke, taking the gold medal in the breastroke in a time of 1:40.50. She also took gold at the 2009 British Championships in the 100m breaststroke. The next year she was part of the Great Britain team at the IPC World Championship, and in the heats of the 100m breaststroke she recorded the fastest time. In the finals, despite finishing in 1:39.74, she finished in second place to take the silver. At the 2010 British Championships, Henshaw failed to defend her gold, finishing second in the 100m breaststroke, despite recording a time over five seconds quicker than the previous year. In 2011 Henshaw represented Great Britain at the IPC European Championships. She finished 5th in the S8 400m freestyle, 4th in the SM8 200m individual medley and won the silver in the SB6 100m breaststroke. Henshaw was back in the British team in 2012 when she was selected for her second Paralympics, this time on home-soil in London. She entered two events, the 400m Freestyle and the 100m Breaststroke. In her first event, the 400m freestyle, she failed to make it through the heats, finishing 12th. On the morning of the 5 September Henshaw set a new Paralympic record with a time of 1:39.64 in the qualifying heat of the 100m breaststroke. The final, held in the afternoon session, saw Henshaw in a close race with Viktoriia Savtsova of the Ukraine, and although both athletes broke Henshaw's new record, Savtsova took gold by 0.03 seconds.
