Dame Sarah Storey: Age, Husband, Children, Medals and Strictly Exit
Dame Sarah Storey is Britain’s most successful Paralympian, with 19 gold medals from nine Games in swimming and cycling. She turns 49 today, 26 October 2026, a week after leaving Strictly Come Dancing with Julian Caillon and three months after retiring from racing. She is married to former tandem pilot Barney Storey and they have two children.
Why is Sarah Storey trending?
She was voted off Strictly on 18 October after a dance-off with Bethany Antonia, and today, 26 October, is her 49th birthday.
Who was Sarah Storey’s Strictly partner?
She danced with French professional Julian Caillon, and was the first Dame ever to compete on Strictly. They scored 15 for their opening quickstep, a best of 24 for a Mary Poppins Charleston in Movie Week, then 20 for a paso doble and 21 for an Icons Week tango to Shania Twain’s That Don’t Impress Me Much.
That tango put them in the bottom two with Bethany Antonia and Nancy Xu, and Anton Du Beke, Motsi Mabuse and Craig Revel Horwood all chose to save Bethany, with Shirley Ballas saying she would have done the same. Sarah finished 13th. Many viewers said she had been “done dirty” by the song choice.
| Week | Dance | Song | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Quickstep | C’est Magnifique, Kay Starr | 15 |
| 2 | Charleston | Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious | 24 |
| 3 | Paso doble | California Dreamin’, Sia | 20 |
| 4 | Tango | That Don’t Impress Me Much, Shania Twain | 21 (out after dance-off) |
Afterwards she thanked Julian on Instagram for “being the best pro I could have ever wished for”, and told the Evening Standard that the show meant putting “100% faith into another person that you’ve only just met”.
Must readJaime Winstone: the Strictly star who survived two dance-offs
How many Paralympic medals has Sarah Storey won?
Sarah won 30 Paralympic medals, 19 of them gold, at nine Games from Barcelona 1992 to Paris 2024. That makes her both the most successful and the most decorated British Paralympian of all time. She passed Mike Kenny’s British record of 16 golds in Tokyo on 2 September 2021.
She started as a swimmer, winning two golds at Barcelona aged just 14 and five golds before she turned 19. In all she won 16 swimming medals, five of them gold, before switching to cycling, where she was winning European titles by 2005. On the bike she won 14 more golds, including four at London 2012 and two at Paris 2024, where she took the road race at a fifth Games in a row.
| Games | Sport | Gold | Total medals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barcelona 1992 | Swimming | 2 | 6 |
| Atlanta 1996 | Swimming | 3 | 5 |
| Sydney 2000 | Swimming | 0 | 2 |
| Athens 2004 | Swimming | 0 | 3 |
| Beijing 2008 | Cycling | 2 | 2 |
| London 2012 | Cycling | 4 | 4 |
| Rio 2016 | Cycling | 3 | 3 |
| Tokyo 2020 | Cycling | 3 | 3 |
| Paris 2024 | Cycling | 2 | 2 |
Has Sarah Storey retired?
Yes. She retired from racing on 9 July 2026, aged 48, ruling out a 10th Games at LA 2028. She said her body was not the reason, and that she believed she could have a greater impact off the bike, arguing that para sport had “stalled somewhat since London 2012”.
Must readWho Is Alexis Warr? Strictly Pro’s Age, Husband Split and Dance Career
What happened to Sarah Storey’s hand?
She was born without a functioning left hand, after her arm became tangled in the umbilical cord in the womb. She competed in para swimming and then in the C5 para-cycling class, the category for riders with the least severe impairments.
Who is Sarah Storey’s husband?
She married Barney Storey in 2007. Barney is a former tandem pilot and coach who won Paralympic gold himself at Beijing 2008, steering a visually impaired rider on the tandem.
Does Sarah Storey have children?
Yes, two. Daughter Louisa was born in June 2013, the year after London 2012, and their son was born in October 2017. Sarah went on to win golds in Tokyo and Paris as a mum of two. When she joined Strictly she said she had always loved watching the show and that Louisa is “a very talented dancer”.
How old is Sarah Storey?
Sarah Storey is 49. She was born Sarah Bailey on 26 October 1977 in Manchester.
How old was Sarah Storey when…?
What does Sarah Storey do now?
Away from racing she runs Storey Racing, campaigns for walking and cycling as an Active Travel Commissioner, first for the Sheffield City Region from 2019 and later for Greater Manchester, and has been President of Lancashire County Cricket Club since April 2024.
Why was Sarah Storey made a Dame?
She became Dame Sarah in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to para-cycling, after her four golds at London 2012. She had already been made an MBE in 1998 and an OBE in 2009.
What is Sarah Storey’s net worth?
There is no reliable published figure, so we do not repeat the guesses on net worth websites. Her income has come from more than three decades of elite sport, sponsorship, her racing team, public roles and TV work such as Strictly.
Sarah Storey rumours, checked
Sarah Storey has never competed at the Olympics. All 30 of her medals came at the Paralympics, although she has raced against able-bodied riders and won British national track titles.
She was due to skate on Dancing on Ice in 2025 but pulled out after fracturing her ankle in training.
Frequently Asked Questions
Royal Mail painted a postbox gold in the hometown of every British gold medallist at London 2012, and Sarah's golds are marked by gold postboxes in Poynton and Macclesfield in Cheshire.
On 28 February 2015 she rode 45.502km in an hour, a C5 para world record and a British record.
She has set 75 world records across swimming and cycling.
