Pritchard named BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year 2025

Para-rower Ben Pritchard is the BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year for 2025.

The 33-year-old from Mumbles, near Swansea in south Wales, was the dominant force in the PR1 men's single sculls, setting multiple world records in his event.

The 2024 Paralympic champion completed the full set of major titles in 2025, adding both the European and world crowns to his name to achieve a notable hat-trick of gold medals.

Pritchard said the accolade meant "everything" to him.

He added: "To be recognised amongst some of my sporting heroes and icons that my family have spoken about for generations is really amazing so diolch yn fawr, thank you very much. This is unreal.

"My family won't believe me. Seeing Sir Gareth Edwards' name on the trophy, joining icons, I'm genuinely speechless."

As he reflected on his progress as a para-athlete after the accident that changed his life, Pritchard said he could not have imagined how his life would change.

"I'm a massive sports fan as you can probably tell and I would never imagined it, never dreamed it," he said.

"Rowing was the vehicle that helped me rehabilitate and allowed me to live my life to the fullest, not just on the water or winning medals, but to allow me to pick my daughter up, to allow me to reach for things in the kitchen cupboard.

"This is so special because sport is more than just winning medals, it's my whole life because it allows me to do things in day-to-day as well.

"This is recognition to all the hard work that's gone into the years. Nine years ago I was laid in a hospital bed aiming to go to a Paralympics, aiming to live my life again - and here I am winning the best award in sporting history in Wales so it's amazing."

Pritchard put down an early marker at the European Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in May.

The Welshman burst out of the start line on day one by setting a new world record of eight minutes 47.88 seconds to qualify for the final with ease.

That time was significantly quicker than the previous world best of 8.50.38 set by Ukrainian Roman Polianskyi, but also smashed the 9.03.84 Pritchard had recorded in winning his Paralympic gold in Paris the previous year.

Two days later came the final and Pritchard upped the tempo again, lowering the world record mark to 8:40.38 as he claimed his first European title - finishing more than 11 seconds ahead of runner-up Polianskyi.

Pritchard said his performance was part of a "performance reset" for the Los Angeles 2028 Games cycle. Some reset.

Attention then turned to preparations for September's World Rowing Championships in Shanghai.

Pritchard had twice before made it onto World Championship podiums but the title had proved elusive.

He remedied that in style in China in the final, leading from the start and maintaining the pressure on the rest of the field to take gold in a time of 8:55.65.

A jubilant Prtichard said afterwards: "I'm a Paralympic, European and world champion. I've broken European records, Paralympic records and world championship records. I'll take it all to be honest!

"I wanted to get off quick and hold the lead, and towards the end I was holding on for dear life. I was dying in those last five strokes, that's for sure."

The results were also confirmation that Pritchard had made the right decision to train away from the GB squad this season, swapping the centralised National Training Centre in Caversham, Reading, for the River Tawe and David Lloyd Swansea back in Wales.

Pritchard comes from a sporting family. His father was a respected judoka and rugby player, while his mother played netball for the Welsh police force.

His early sporting love was sailing, joining Mumbles Yacht Club and going on to represent Wales and Great Britain in varying boat classes in his youth.

But, inspired by one of his teachers, Pritchard took up cycling and triathlon and it seemed that was where his sporting career would lie.

In 2016, however, his life changed forever following a cycling crash that left him paralysed from the ribcage down.

Pritchard's recovery began at the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, where he was introduced to adaptive sport – and to rowing, first as a way to help with his rehabilitation but then taking up the sport seriously.

He made his GB Rowing Team international debut in the PR1 men's single sculls at the 2019 World Championships and has gone from strength to strength, culminating in the 2024 Olympic title and now winning at the 2025 European and World Championships.

Pritchard's sights are now firmly set on the Los Angeles 2028 Games where he will aim to defend his title and become a two-time Paralympic champion.

Pritchard was selected for the BBC Cymru Wales award by an expert panel chaired by Paralympic great and Sport Wales chair Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, who was joined by former Wales footballer and netball player Nia Jones, Sport Wales' Owen Lewis, Cardiff Metropolitan University's dean of Sport and Health Sciences Professor Katie Thirlaway, and former BBC Wales football correspondent Rob Phillips.

Baroness Grey-Thompson said: "It was a really tough decision. Wales has again shown that it is able to produce really talented athletes across a wide range of sport.

"Ben has had a phenomenal year after winning in Paris, backing that up with a world record at the Europeans. It's a big step up from bronze in 2022 at the Europeans and worlds.

"It was great to have a panel with a wide range of expertise to look at all the contenders."

A close second to Pritchard in the panel's deliberations was jockey Sean Bowen.

The 28-year-old from Pembrokeshire started 2025 by passing the 1,000 winner milestone. Then in April be became only the third Welsh rider to be crowned Champion Jockey and the first since Dick Francis in 1954.

Other athletes who were highly commended during the panel's deliberations included sprinter Jeremiah Azu, cyclists Anna Morris and Zoe Backstedt, Para-athletes Aled Sion Davies and Sabrina Fortune, snooker player Mark Williams, table tennis player Anna Hursey, rally driver Elfyn Evans, boxer Lauren Price and swimmer Matt Richards.