POOLE'S Alice Tai believes she has not yet tapped into her full potential as she heads to a second Paralympics in Paris.

The 25-year-old missed out on Tokyo 2020 with an elbow injury brought about by using crutches for her club foot and shortly after the Games, decided to amputate her leg to alleviate her of pain.

In the two years since her amputation, Tai has roared to S8 100m backstroke world and Commonwealth titles in the pool and is now almost back to her best ahead of Paris 2024.

And with only a short 2024 season providing some impressive times, Tai has teased that there's definitely more to come.

"I feel the times I'm swimming now, I can still drop a bit more but maybe not in Paris, possibly after," said Tai, who is one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support – which has been vital on their pathway to the Paris 2024 Games.

(Image: PA)

"This season has been a little off as I only just started training properly in March because there were some issues with my prosthetic and then my life got a bit hectic.

"We've been focussing more on butterfly and backstroke and on those two strokes I feel like I'm getting back to my times.

"My butterfly I've also swam a time that was fastest than what I won worlds in in 2019 so that is really getting back down."

Tai stormed to five individual world titles in the pool at the 2019 World Championships in London but saw her progress halted by injury.

Amputation has now brought about the ability to return to those highs, no longer having her foot dragging behind her in the water. And it's those technical aspects that she is working on perfecting to return to her best.

"There are some events like the 50m freestyle where my swim speed is similar, but my start has been impacted so my time overall is slower," she added.

"I actually think it's evened out as having my foot there allowed me to start and turns better but having it drag in the water made my swimming slower.

"I reckon I can get back down to the same speed."

(Image: PA)

A lot has changed for Tai in the eight years between Rio and Paris, but the swimmer is now back in love with the sport.

And with the ambition to just have fun and see if she lands on the podium, the backstroke and butterfly specialist admitted that there will definitely be a few tears shed if her medal dreams come true.

"Missing out on Tokyo really sucked and I was fortunate to do some punditry with Channel 4 but this time round I'm definitely happier to be the one competing,” she added.

"My injuries have all cleared up and I'm happy to be back. It feels weird to say I'm only heading to my second Paralympics.

"Between Rio and now I've definitely changed a lot. I've got more emotionally attached to the sport recently than I have in the past.

"Even when I swim something good in training now I get a bit emotional so I think that if I end up on any step of the podium then I will definitely shed a few tears."

With more than £30M a week raised for Good Causes, including vital funding into elite and grassroots sport, National Lottery players support our Olympic and Paralympic athletes to live their dreams and make the nation proud, as well as providing more opportunities for people to take part in sport. To find out more visit: www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk