A teenager has won a medal in a national wheelchair race two years on from a life-changing injury.

Ellis Kottas, 19, from West Malling, took up wheelchair racing last summer after she suffered a spinal cord injury in September 2020 which left her hospitalised for months.

The former competitive swimmer said: "I was in hospital a very long time. It was really hard. The first few weeks and months I was just bedbound. I couldn't move, I couldn't do anything."

Having previously competed in swimming from the age of nine until her injury, Ellis had a long break from sport while she was recovering in hospital.

She added: "While I was in hospital I knew I wanted to get back into sport. It really helps in terms of showing that your body can still do stuff.

"You might have different capabilities, but you're still capable of doing stuff, and that's why I really wanted to get back into it.

"But it was quite a hard decision, what I wanted go into, because I knew I could go back to swimming but I think I would have compared myself a lot to what I was like before.

"It was actually quite nice to have a fresh start. We got in contact with a lot of places, and we found the Weir Archer Academy online and went to have a look at them training at a roller session, which is known for being really tough.

"I was sat there watching everyone working so hard, they all looked so drained, and I thought, that's what I want to do. To just really devote myself to a sport, like I did with swimming."

The Weir Archer Academy is a wheelchair athletics coaching and training academy run by David Weir, CBE, and Jenny Archer, MBE.

David Weir is a British Paralympic wheelchair athlete who has won six gold medals at the Paralympic Games, and has won the London Marathon eight times.

Head coach Jenny Archer has many achievements under her belt including coaching David Weir to seven of his London Marathon victories and Josh Cassidy to another, and coaching Paralympic athletes to a total of seven gold medals, three silvers and two bronzes.

Ellis said that as soon as she picked up the sport in July last year, she "immediately loved it".

And now, in her first competitive season, she has won a bronze medal at the School Games National Finals.

The School Games National Finals is a four-day event featuring 10 sports including athletics, modern pentathlon, triathlon and wheelchair basketball.

This year, the event took place at Loughborough University from September 1 to September 4, and 1,000 school-age athletes competed.

Previous competitors of the School Games National Finals who have gone on to win medals in the Olympic and Paralympic Games include Adam Peaty, Dina Asher-Smith, Hannah Cockroft, and Max Whitlock.

Ellis came third in the 100m girls' wheelchair race, on Saturday, September 3.

The medallist said: "It feels brilliant. I just immediately loved wheelchair racing and I think as soon as you really love it, that really helps your performance.

"But it's my first season, so it really is crazy how fast it's gone."

Alongside the competitions, the School Games National Finals has a large focus on educational value and preparing athletes for the next steps in their careers.

During the event, the athletes lived in Loughborough University accommodation, which Ellis described as being "like a mini version of real international games".

Competitors were also able to attend talks by Olympic athletes, and disabled and abled athletes were all in one place.

She said: "You get the accomodation, all the other athletes, it was just a really big experience. It wasn't just doing your sport, it was everything that comes around that."

The medal ceremony for the girls' wheelchair race was carried out by Paralympian and world record holder Hannah Cockroft, and her partner and fellow Paralympian Nathan Maguire.

Ellis said: "It was amazing having these Olympians handing over medals, to maybe future Olympians. And it was great to hear their stories. It kind of makes you think, what is my story going to be?"

She is competing next in the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports (IWAS) World Games in Portugal at the end of November, and hopes to build up to road races and longer distances in the future.

For people in a similar position to herself, Ellis had this advice: "Get out there and try new things.

"I didn't know anything about wheelchair racing, it was just something we sort of found online.

"And I want people to know that it does get better. You do recover, a lot more. Life goes back to normal. It's a new normal, but it's not going to stay that bad."