7.2m tune in as Manchester Met student and Cheshire swimmer land Team GB’s first Paris Paralympics golds

A total audience of 7.2m tuned into Day 1 of the Paris 2024 Paralympics on Channel 4 yesterday as teenage Cheshire swimmer Poppy Maskill picked up gold on her games debut in the women’s S14 100m butterfly, setting a new World Record in the process, followed by Manchester Metropolitan University student Tully Kearney landing gold in the women’s 200m freestyle S5 final.

Coverage of the Paralympics averaged an impressive 1.2m over the three hour prime time slot from 6.30-9.30pm last night, with a 1.6m peak audience watching Kearney’s gold medal winning performance. Reach across all channels over the course of the day was 7.2m.

The Paralympics is also proving a hit with younger viewers, with 16-34 year olds making up more than 20% of viewers.

The two swimming golds were Team GB’s first of this year’s competition.

Maskill, who is now 19-years-old, told her coach at Centurions swimming club in Northwich, Cheshire, that she was going to the Olympics at the tender age of 11.

Kearney, who also competes for Manchester Met’s college team, is currently studying for a master’s degree in human physiology at the Manchester institution having previously graduated with a BSc (Hons) degree in physiology. She is Patron of Dystonia UK and works to raise awareness of this rare progressive neurological movement disorder.