The Olympic and Paralympic high-performance community came together to celebrate a year of extraordinary sporting moments at the 2025 PLx Awards.
The annual event was hosted in Leeds, where nine award winners from the sector across Olympic and Paralympic sports were celebrated by their peers.
The Awards are part of PLx, the annual conference for leaders from the high-performance community to connect, collaborate and learn. The 2025 PLx Awards were hosted by decorated Paralympians Stef Reid MBE and Emma Wiggs.
Full list of winners:
Athlete Award
This award recognises the athlete who has had the biggest performance turnaround or breakthrough in the last year.
Erin McNeice - British Mountaineering Council
In the space of 6 months, Erin has gone from a promising Olympic finalist to one of the most successful British sport climbers in history. In 2025 she became, at 21, the first British women to win two World Cup Golds for GB.
Erin said: “I’ve had lots of new experiences this year – I've approached training differently, new people came into my life and it was definitely a change. But it all worked out for the best and I worked really hard.
"This season was by far the best one of my life. My family are so supportive and I get along really well with my coaches, so it’s really easy spending day i, day out with them. I’ve built the best support network possible around me and I’m very grateful for all of them. It’s another new experience winning an award like this and it means a lot.”
Collaboration and teamwork award
This award recognises best practice from a sport demonstrating impact in improving elite sport performance
Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Performance Team – British Gymnastics
The Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Performance Team has shown remarkable courage, leadership, and unity in beginning the vital work of cultural transformation following the Whyte Review. This has been led by Performance Director Dave Hart with Martine George, Head National Coach. At a time when British Gymnastics has been under intense scrutiny a new environment has been created where performance and wellbeing are pursued side by side.
Martine George said: “I’ve worked in other countries in gymnastics and since behind in this job, it has been incredible to experience the number of people that are surrounding the team to support us. Everywhere you turn if you need information or help, you can find it and as a national head coach, it gives me a sense of freedom to know I have that level of support around me.
"I began the job in January and I was really fortunate to come into an organisation that I could feel was ready to make great change. I’m so proud to be part of that change, I feel really honoured to come into the job and bring my ideas and vision for gymnastics. This feels like just the start – we have made a lot of progress and our idea is to keep winning well, all of us together, like a family.”
Support staff award
This award recognises a member of support staff or practitioner, from any specialism, who has had a special impact on the high-performance community
Ed McDermott - British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association
Ed has made a major contribution to the success of GB Skeleton since 2012 and is its Head of Performance Support for the 2023-26 Olympic cycle. In 2024 he oversaw the integration of GB bobsleigh with skeleton. In this Olympic season he has been instrumental in delivering a team race strategy which has produced four Championship medals and a great base for GB performances at Milan-Cortina 2026. His continual pursuit of excellence in the high performance system sets him out from others.
Ed said: “It’s great to be recognised and give the whole team a timely boost with Milan-Cortina just around the corner. There are loads of amazing support staff out there and it was humbling even to be nominated, let alone go on and win it.
"We don’t go into these roles for the recognition – we want to give people the best opportunity to achieve their dreams. To have a little bit of recognition along the way is a nice feeling.”
Coach award
This award recognises a coach who has had a special impact on the high-performance sport community.
Rob Aubry - Aquatics GB (Para Swimming)
Rob is a principled and values-led leader and coach who is critical to Para Swimming’s success. This year his great work resulted in GB winning 40 medals at the 2025 Worlds, a record for GB Para Swimming.
Pathway Coach Award
This award recognises a coach who has developed and delivered a successful pathway programme, for athletes or coaches.
Stuart Blunt - British Cycling.
Many of GB’s successes in the Olympic and professional endurance cycling world can be traced back to Stuart’s work and he continues to hone future winners – a true pathway coach.
Stuart said: “I’ve been in the sport of cycling for a long time and this is a lovely moment in that journey. It meant a lot to hear tributes from the likes of Tom Pidcock and Fred Wright as part of the nominees video.
"I work with lads from the age of 16, they come to me as boys and they leave as men. We want to produce good athletes, but also people. This award is a nice touch for our families too – we spent a lot of time away from home in our jobs, and it’s special for them to see me get some recognition.”
Innovation award
This award recognises an innovation that has made a significant improvement or had an impact on our high-performance community
The Paracanoe Innovation Project – Paddle UK
Para Canoe has pushed the boundaries of prosthetic care, creating the base for the success of the GB Para Canoe Team. This year it resulted in GB topping the medal table at the 2025 Para Canoe Worlds.
Paddle UK Physiotherapist Charlie Wade said: “This award is a special one for para sport in general. It means a lot in terms of recognising the work that goes on behind the scenes and to equip para athletes with what they require to deliver under pressure. It was an award we weren’t expecting, but it’s a privilege.
"The award has rewarded the work that has been doen so far but there’s a lot more to come and we’re really excited to see what the team are able to deliver this season and beyond.”
Social Impact Award
This award recognises the sport, staff or athlete that has had a positive impact on their community.
Darcy Bourne – GB Hockey
Darcy founded ‘Raising her Game’ which has created spaces in Hockey for girls of all backgrounds to feel welcome, safe, and inspired. She has followed this by co-founding ‘Beyond our Game’ dedicated to improving diversity and representation in Women’s sport. Both initiatives have had real social impact in Hockey.
Darcy said: “Honestly, I’m a bit shocked – this award means so much. We’re such a young charity so to be recognised for an award like this, I’m feeling very proud, grateful and excited for our future. We’ve achieved more than we hoped to at this point and we’ve had so many girls come down to camp who say they’ve never played a sport outside of school before.
"This shows what is possible when you take away barriers and put positive female role models in place. At the moment, we’re trying to figure out how we can keep growing and scale up – the need is there and the model is working."
Spirit of High-Performance Award
This award recognises a sport, member of staff, athlete or team that has risen to a challenge and done so in a way that embodies, what you interpret to be 'the spirit of high-performance'.
Sally Kidson, Connor Welfare & Lauren Kianchehr - Boccia UK
Sally, Conor and Lauren have demonstrated extraordinary resilience, unity and inspiration following the tragic and unexpected death of one of Boccia’s athletes soon after he represented ParalympicsGB at Paris 2024. In honour of his legacy, despite their grief, they committed to continuing in the sport, working together in partnership, and this culminated in Sally winning a gold medal at the 2025 European Championships, a first for her.
Sally said: “This isn’t just an award for the three of us – it's for the four of us. Will empowered my career, he inspired it and was a big supporter. I had some conversations at the start of this year about potentially retiring or a prolonged break and I decided to carry on.
"Will was a big believer in keeping going no matter what. You want to get the results for yourself but I take a photo of him onto the podium every time and he will always be with me throughout my career.
In recognition
A special Spirit of High Performance Award was awarded to Gorazd Vecko, Performance Director for British Para Table Tennis, who sadly passed away in October.
This award recognises his impact on people and programmes over 16 incredible years of unwavering service within the UK sporting system.