SCHOOLGIRL swimmer Iona Winnifrith hopes to follow in the footsteps of Ellie Simmonds by standing on the Paralympic podium aged just 13.

The youngest member of Team GB’s 215-strong squad for Paris 2024 will make her Games debut tomorrow in the 200m individual medley.

Simmonds, 29, won the first two of her five Paralympic gold medals in Beijing in 2008 before retiring after Tokyo 2020.

Double European champion Winnifrith, who has short stature and swims in the S7 classification, is also scheduled to compete in the 100m breaststroke and 50m butterfly events during the Games.

“I’ve always looked up to Ellie Simmonds with her being 13 when she went to her first Games, and she’s got a similar disability to me,” said Winnifrith.

“I’m very excited, hopefully I can win a medal.”

Winnifrith, from Tonbridge, Kent, underlined her potential in April by claiming the European 100m breaststroke and 200m individual medley titles in Madeira.

Asked if Paralympic gold was a possibility, she replied: “Potentially.”

Winnifrith was only 16 months old at the time of London 2012, with her first memories of Paralympic competition coming during the Covid-delayed Games in Tokyo.

Having been inspired to swim by watching her three older brothers, the teenager says “sisters” Ellie Challis, 20, and Maisie Summers-Newton, 22, have taken her under their wings in the GB camp.

“Ellie and Maisie, they’ve been really helpful because they’ve been to Tokyo, and they’re just really kind,” she said.

“They’re like sisters to me when we’re away.”