Malvern athlete to compete in para-canoe world championships

She described travelling to Poznan for the competition as “quite crazy”, but receiving her GB kit had made it feel real.

“That feeling of picking up the GB kit and knowing that I’ll be representing my country again is really special,” she said.

Her family will come to Poland to watch her compete.

“They’ve been really supportive through everything that’s happened over the last two years,” Cresswell said. “Two years today I was still bedbound. Now I’m on the water and they’re all flying out to Poland to watch.”

Cresswell is part of the Women’s Sport Trust’s Unlocked programme, which supports elite female athletes as they develop their careers in sport.

A place at the Paralympics is now her long-term ambition.

“It seems so far off at the moment,” she said. “But a Paralympic goal would be massive for me in the future.”

She said she tried to focus on what she could do rather than what her disability prevented her from doing.

“I always say ‘think about the things you can do and not the things you can’t’,” she explained. “If I can live by that motto then it keeps me positive and enjoying my life.

“I see myself as lucky. I’m still in a position where I can come out, do sport, be outside, I work, I coach a lot of equestrian, I drive all over the country and I get to live a really fulfilled life.”