Julie Rogers on track to be a hit after deciding she won’t play volleyball at Rio 2016 Paralympics

Julie Rogers was one of the youngest athletes at London 2012 when she represented Paralympics GB in sitting volleyball aged just 13.

Four years on and Rogers is heading to Rio — only this time she will be competing on the track.

Rogers has switched to athletics and, now 17, is a genuine medal prospect in the T42 100m despite only taking up the sport three years ago.

“I was still really young after London and I wanted a new challenge,” says Rogers, who is ranked fifth in the world. “I fancied a change of scene. I tried athletics and realised I had some potential in it.

“I trained in volleyball and athletics for a year and then realised if I turned my attention to athletics then I could have strong prospects. It went from there really.

“I knew I had the potential to go to Rio but to be selected is overwhelming.”

It is a remarkable achievement but her selection is reward for the great progress Rogers has made since taking up athletics.

She finished third at the World Junior Championships last year and her times have steadily improved to where she ran a personal best of 16.87 seconds this summer.

Her rapid rise means Rogers has not represented Great Britain at senior level in athletics, so she will never have raced against most of her competitors in Rio next month.

Rogers, the youngest athlete in the top five of her category by eight years, will draw on her experience in London.

“Even though I am in a different sport I learned such valuable lessons in London,” says Rogers, who was born with a congenital disorder.

“I was really young so it hit me a bit but I can take that experience to Rio.

“I will have a lot less race experience than the other athletes but in volleyball I was the youngest by about 10 years so I’m used to it.

“When it comes down to the performance in an individual sport, everything is on you. You need to pull it out and execute. That is what I really like about it. If I execute my race well, with the preparation that I have put in, hopefully they need to watch out!”

So does Rogers, who is mentored by London 2012 goal medallist Jonnie Peacock, have any plans to switch sports again for Tokyo in 2020?

“No, I think I have fallen in love with athletics now!” she says.

“I do not have any aspirations to switch it up. I have found the environment that I want to be in. I always want to better myself and I think I can do that for the Games to come.”

Julie Rogers is a BT Ambassador. BT is a long-time supporter of disability sport in the UK and the Founding Partner to the British Paralympic Association