Nineteen-year-old Para-swimmer Ela Letton-Jones has captured Wales’ first medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, earning a silver in the pool. She completed the women’s S13 100m freestyle event with a time of one minute and 4.30 seconds, placing her just behind gold medalist Jenna Jones of Australia, who clocked 1:03.89. The result mirrored her performance in the earlier qualifying session where she also secured the second-fastest time.
Hailing from Y Felinheli in Gwynedd, Letton-Jones lives with albinism, a condition that significantly impacts her vision. To navigate the pool during competitions, she relies on counting her strokes to determine her distance from the wall. Currently a criminology student at Manchester Metropolitan University, the athlete is actively pursuing her ambition to represent Wales at the 2028 Paralympics in Los Angeles.
Following a near-miss for the 2024 Paris Games, she was selected for the Aquatics GB Para-swimming world-class development initiative. Her podium finish in Glasgow adds to her growing list of achievements, which includes a silver medal in the 100m backstroke S12 during her 2025 World Para-swimming championships debut.
