Weir has won six gold, two silver and two bronze medals at the Paralympics since making his debut in Atlanta as a 17-year-old in 1996, including four golds on home soil at London 2012 when the coverage and awareness of para sport was elevated to new levels.
But as a young boy growing up in London he did not see disabled athletes on television in the 1980s, apart from for a few short segments during the London Marathon each year.
That small insight inspired him to take up wheelchair racing and he has seen great steps forward in the exposure for the sport he loves – but more must be done, he feels.
“It was great up until 2012 and then afterwards we had a lot of superstars from that but I feel like it’s fizzled out, I don’t think there’s enough coverage of athletes, I don’t think enough races are covered,” he said.
“We have a lot of races around the world, especially on the track, I feel for the guys who don’t get that exposure.”
This year, the marathon will award equal prize money across wheelchair and able-bodied races for the first time in its history.
Weir has only finished outside the top three on four occasions, in 2000, 2013, 2019 and last year, and has not won since back-to-back victories in 2017 and 2018.
And it is those two victories, along with his achievements at London 2012, that he is most proud of across his illustrious career.
“I was struggling with severe mental health issues, to win in 2017 after what happened in Rio (at the 2016 Paralympics, where he failed to medal) was a big achievement for me because I didn’t think I’d be able to win anything,” he said.
“I couldn’t really celebrate that win because I had so many mental health issues, and then in 2018 I came back stronger and won two marathons in a row and I could actually celebrate both of them because I’d started to feel slightly better in myself and better about my achievements.”
