As we\u2019re sitting down for a chat with Becky Redfern<\/a>, we\u2019re wondering if she has been on some well-earned downtime after her heroics in the Tokyo Paralympics<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, she has just returned from the Para-Swimming World Series<\/a> event in Aberdeen, qualifying for the Commonwealth Games<\/a> in Birmingham later this year in the S13 50m freestyle. Redfern says, “So it’s looking like it might be a very busy 2022.” It sounds like it’s a case of ‘just keep swimming’ for this 22-year-old. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She’s already won two silver medals in the S13 100m breaststroke at both the Rio and Tokyo Paralympic Games and is a former world record holder in the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I remember being a small, nervous 16-year-old at the biggest competition of my life, yet being disappointed that I only came out with a silver medal<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Redfern suffers from a degenerative eye condition known as retinitis pigmentosa, leaving her without peripheral vision. Therefore, she sits in the least severe visual impairment categories for the Paralympic and Commonwealth Games (S13). <\/p>\n\n\n\n She hails from Droitwich Spa and is looking forward to the major tournament much closer to home this year. “I’m really excited to have the Commonwealths so close in Birmingham so that my whole family can be there to support, rather than me being on the other side of the world,” she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Family has taken on an extra meaning for Redfern in the last two years, as she gave birth to baby Patrick. This was just over a year before winning her second Paralympic silver in Tokyo in August 2021. Patrick\u2019s second birthday will almost coincide with his mum’s competition in the Commonwealth Games this year in July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Redfern, her journey began when she travelled all the way to the Rio Paralympic Games as a 16-year-old still completing her GCSEs. <\/p>\n\n\n\nBecoming a big fish in a huge pond<\/h5>\n\n\n\n