No stranger to the spotlight, Jack Eyers from Bournemouth, is a personal trainer, model and former Mr England who narrowly missed out on representing Team GB as a paracanoeist in Tokyo three years ago.

The 35-year-old, an above-the-knee amputee, has two World Championship gold medals in the para-canoe and is determined to add a Paralympic gold to his achievements when he competes at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games on 6 September.

Eyers was left absolutely devastated when he wasn't selected for the paracanoeing VL3 event when it made its Paralympic debut in Tokyo 2021 but shortly after he won his first World Championship gold medal in Copenhagen and then defended it at 2022 Dartmouth. 

His career has been on an upward trend ever since and he now looks upon narrowly missing out on Tokyo in a positive way. "I believe that's why I came out on top because I figured out a way of using my emotions and I channelled them into success," he said. 

This time around, however, having been selected for Paris, he is determined to add the "creme de la creme" of his career which will supersede previous medals and his Mr England title as his greatest achievement. 

"It would make my career, it would be absolutely an overwhelming experience. It would be the pinnacle," said Eyers. "I'm in the best position that I could possibly be in. I am a completely different athlete than I was going for the Tokyo Games. My race plan has grown and developed, my physical ability has grown and developed, my resilience is there as well and I'm feeling really happy."

Eyers is eager to get the preparation out of the way and compete saying that he finds the lead-up to major competitions more challenging than the races themselves. 

"When you're sat on that start line and you're just about to race 200m - I've done that a thousand times, that's the bit I'm good at," he said. "The bit I have to work quite hard on is the lead up to that moment - where you have these intrusive thoughts or feelings of anxiety or nerves - and dealing with that only comes with experience."

Eyers previously told the BBC that the decision to have his right leg amputated at just 16 was "the best decision I ever made." He went on to become the first amputee to be crowned Mr England in 2017 and joined the Great Britain Para-canoe programme that same year. 

He now says that the world needs "outspoken and successful" Paralympian role models to advance the perception of disability sport. Personal stories are essential, he says, and it is important to hear "the sacrifices and pain of what they've had to go through to get to where they are".

"Everything that I've set out to succeed with, I've managed to achieve in my own personal way," he said. "I want to continue working with people living with impairments and help them to explore who they really are through sport, fitness and exercise."

Jack Eyers will compete in the paracanoe events at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium on 6 September.