Paralympian Anna Nicholson has been named Sports Personality of the Year at the Cumbria Sports Awards 2025.

The athlete was crowned at the awards ceremony held at Energus, Workington, which was sponsored by Fibrus Broadband.

Twenty-nine-year-old Anna, who has cerebral palsy, won bronze in the F35 shot put at the Paris Games last summer and was thrilled to receive the award from Fibrus.

“I feel overwhelmed that I have won this award. When I think about the people who have won it in the past you realise how amazing and prestigious it is.

“It’s really nice to get recognised in this way and especially as a disabled athlete it is good to win a sports personality award rather than a disability-based award. It is something that means a lot to me and the disabled community as well,” she said.

“I am hoping to make it to the LA Olympics in three years, but this year we have the world championships at the end of September so that will be the next big challenge,” she added.

Anna is a former William Howard School pupil and joins previous Sports Personality winners including Carl Stonehewer, Mark Cueto, Ben Stokes and Georgia Stanway.

She started athletics in 2010 and began competing the following year, progressing while studying for a Masters in chemical engineering and working in the car industry.

After a breakthrough year in 2019, Anna qualified for the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021 and finished sixth before making the podium at last year’s Games.

Colin Hutchinson, Chief Financial Officer of Fibrus Broadband, said he was honoured to meet Anna and the other winners on a night that celebrated so many Cumbrian sporting heroes, ranging from eight-year-old mountaineer Frankie McMillan to rugby league star Kyle Amor.

“It has been an inspiring night. Anna is amazing and thoroughly deserves her award.

“As a company we understand the importance of connecting communities. It’s what we as a company set out to do 5 years ago, and we know the vital role that local sports clubs play in connecting communities too.

“Over the last two years, Fibrus is proud to have supported around 40 sports clubs in Cumbria with £40,000 from our Play it Forward fund, as well as investing in Workington Town.

“We want to support the local communities which we serve and supporting our 100,000 customers beyond a Full Fibre connection remains one of our core missions at Fibrus broadband, so we’re thrilled to be able to support the Cumbria Sports Awards.”

The Cumbria Sports Awards are organised through Active Cumbria with 13 awards handed out to people and organisations across the county.