Teenager Jessica Johnstone grew up idolising Paralympian #166 Dame Sophie Pascoe PLY DNZM. Now, less than a year after taking up Para swimming, she is within touching distance of breaking a national record held by the 19-time Paralympic medallist.
Jess’s rise has been nothing short of remarkable. Since first becoming involved in Para swimming in October last year, she has already claimed national titles and impressed on her international debut last month, winning youth gold and senior silver at the Para Swimming World Series in Fuji, Japan.
For context, the 16-year-old Cambridge-based swimmer has a personal best of 1:17.78 in her specialist event, the Women’s 100m Breaststroke SB9 – just 0.25 seconds shy of Dame Sophie’s New Zealand record.
“It has been a really positive experience,” says Jess. “Since I first got involved in Para swimming, I’ve loved both the people and the culture within the team. There are so many inspiring Para athletes who have overcome their own challenges. It’s a very supportive environment to be part of.”
The transition from able-bodied swimming to Para swimming happened quickly. Following classification, Jess found herself immediately immersed in a high-performance environment.
“It was a big adjustment, but I’ve really enjoyed it,” she says.
Born with hip dysplasia, Jess was encouraged to swim because of the sport’s low-impact nature. She quickly developed a passion for the pool.
Originally from Wellington, Jess spent periods living in Cambridge, the Netherlands, and Australia as her father’s banking career took the family overseas. She learned to swim at the age of two and began competitive swimming at nine.
“I loved the competitive side of the sport,” she explains. “While living in the Netherlands, I finished fifth in my age group at the Dutch national championships in the 100m breaststroke.”
Naturally drawn to breaststroke because of its aggressive and technical nature, Jess had never considered Para swimming until undergoing hip replacement surgery last year.
“One of the surgeons mentioned that Para swimming could be an option,” she says. “I reached out to Cameron Leslie (Paralympian #164 PLY MNZM) at Swimming New Zealand to learn more.”
Her condition impacts her mobility with dives, turns, and especially the breaststroke kick.
“That led me down the path of classification,” says Jess, who has undergone a total of five hip reconstructions in her life and today lives with one hip that is still full displaced with arthritis.
Working with coach Alastair Johnson at St Peter’s School in Cambridge, where she is currently a Year 12 student, Jess trains six days a week in the pool and twice a week in the gym.
She received her national SB9 classification in January, which was confirmed internationally in Japan last month.
Her progress has been rapid. At the Auckland Championships in March, she recorded her personal best of 1:17.78 in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke SB9, moving within quarter of a second of Dame Sophie’s national record.
She then enjoyed further success at the New Zealand Swimming Championships, winning gold in both the multi-class Women’s 50m and 100m Breaststroke events, defeating fellow SB9 swimmer and Paralympian #237 Gabriella Smith, a silver medallist in the latter event at the 2025 World Para Swimming Championships.
“Gaby is a great competitor and I really enjoyed racing against her,” says Jess. “We didn’t taper for nationals, so I was pleased with how I performed. It gave me a lot of confidence.”
Competing with maturity beyond her years, Jess was delighted to claim youth gold and senior silver on her international debut in Japan.
She recorded a time of 1:19.35 in the multi-class Women’s 100m Breaststroke and handled the pressures of classification and international competition impressively.
“It was very different competing overseas and at my first international event,” she says. “I went through the classification process only a few days before racing, so overall I was really happy with how I swam. Winning two medals was special, but so was wearing the fern and representing New Zealand for the first time. That had been a dream for many years.”
Her next major target is the Para Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Walnut, California, this August, where she hopes to challenge for gold in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke SB9.
Jess believes her greatest strength lies in the technical foundations developed during seven years of competitive swimming, although she knows there is still room for improvement.
“I need to get faster and improve my back-end speed,” she says. “We’re doing a lot of work in training to help me maintain a stronger pace towards the end of the race.”
Fully immersed in the Para swimming community, Jess has forged close friendships with fellow international swimmers Rylee Sayer and Charlotte Murphy, both members of the Para Sport Collective, supported by ACC.
With her talent and rapid progression, there is growing excitement about what she could achieve in the years ahead with her long-term focus fixed on LA28.
“It would mean the world to represent New Zealand at LA,” she says. “I’d be proud and honoured to wear the fern, and I’d love the opportunity to win a gold medal.”
Before then, however, Jess would like to lower Dame Sophie’s national record in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke. So, has she ever met her idol?
“Yes, she came for a talk at St Peter’s last year,” explains Jess. “She is such an incredible lady. I met her that day and said to her ‘I want to win gold medals like you do’. She smiled, wished me all the best and signed by pink race togs.”
Yet whatever the future holds, there seems little risk her passion for Para swimming will wane.
“I like putting in the hard work and seeing the results,” she says. “I just love chasing that black line.”
***We will continue to follow the fortunes of Jess Johnstone on the Road to LA28.
