Born, raised and based in Christchurch, Lili-Fox Mason is carving out an increasingly impressive record on the international stage.
Diagnosed with leukemia at the age of three-and-a-half and struggling with a virus during treatment, she was left with limited movement from her hip and down her right leg.
Her lack of mobility left her struggling to play sports which required running, but she found freedom in the swimming pool, starting out in primary school competitions before joining the Wharenui Swimming Club at the age of 12.
“Para swimming was something that was accessible,” she explains. “I enjoyed it as a child, and I also remember meeting Dame Sophie Pascoe through Parafed Canterbury. Getting to talk to her and watch her journey was inspirational.”
Coached by a combination of Matt Houston and Carl Gordon she describes the pair as “the most supportive coaches I’ve ever met” and training eight times a week in the pool in addition to two gym sessions she has gradually improved.
In 2022 she made her international debut for New Zealand in the Para Swimming World Series event in Indianapolis in the USA before later that at the World Para Swimming Championships in Madeira, Portugal, placing seventh in the 400m Freestyle S10 and eighth in the 100m Butterfly S10.
“2022 was a huge eye-opener in terms of how far swimming could take me,” she says. “It was my first time overseas and it was such a cool experience to be part of an event on such a huge scale.”
In 2023, Lili-Fox banked a breakthrough silver medal in 400m Freestyle S10 at the Para Swimming World Series event in Melbourne before later in the year at the World Para Swimming Championships in Manchester – despite struggling with a “challenging” back injury – finishing eighth in the Women’s 100m Butterfly S10.
Close friends with fellow Christchurch-based Para swimmer Gabriella Smith, who like Lili-Fox has won selection for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, she says it has been great to see the pair progress together on the international stage.
Selected for both the Women’s 100m Butterfly S10 – her favoured event – and the Women’s 400m Freestyle S10 for Paris 2024 she cites her “upper body strength” and “perseverance” as two of her main attributes.
“I enjoy the competitiveness of swimming,” she adds. “I never finish a training session thinking it wasn’t worth it. I enjoy that the hard work I put into training pays off in races.”
A pet lover, she owns both a cat and a dog. She works as a casual lifeguard for the Christchurch City Council.
