Football’s loss has been athletics’ gain when it comes to the sporting career of double Paralympian and Novuna Great Britain and Northern Ireland athlete Luke Nuttall.

Nuttall grew up in an athletics-mad family with mum Alison Wyeth and dad John Nuttall both Olympic athletes turned coaches and older sister Hannah also a talented performer who recently finished eighth for GB in the 5000m at her maiden World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

The young Luke reluctantly found himself trackside as he grew up but was more interested in scoring goals than running personal bests and initially dreamed of a career in football before his focus changed.

“When I was young I resented athletics because of how much I was around it and I didn’t really enjoy it,” admits the 24-year-old Loughborough University graduate and Preston North End fan.

“I always had a football with me – that was always my number one love and my passion, and still is – and I played in the top division in the county.

“But when I got to secondary school, I started competing in cross-country events and then went to my local athletics club and saw I was improving quickly and I started to enjoy it more and make friends through it and that gave me the bug.”

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Born with Erbs Palsy – a condition where the nerves that supply movement and feeling to the arm are damaged – Nuttall always competed in non-disabled sport growjng up, including at English Schools level.

Having been spotted as being eligible for Para-sport, he travelled to Dubai to be classified in early 2017 and has embraced the opportunities it has given him since then including at this week’s 2025 World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi.

Nuttall, who has European silver and bronze in the T46 1500m to his name, finished fifth in the event at the last World Championships in Paris in 2023 and was sixth at the Paris Paralympics after a year where he lost his father and saw his Games preparations hampered by a stress fracture to his femur.

He suffered another injury scare earlier this season when he clipped a kerb during a training run, falling heavily and was eventually told he had fractured part of his knee. However, he bounced back from that to set a new personal best of three minutes 52.89 seconds in Manchester in August – improving his previous mark by just over a second, much to his surprise.

“Before the injury I was training really well and it was looking like I would make a big breakthrough this season,” he says.

“It was a real freak injury and it left me frustrated for a while, but luckily I came back to fitness very well and I was almost shocked when I ran the PB because I didn’t know I had the training to do that, so confidence-wise I am feeling pretty good.

“Going into these championships, I probably feel like I have got less pressure on me than normal. Taking that little bit of pressure off helps me to relax. You need to feel pressure to perform well, but you can put too much on yourself.

“I don’t take myself too seriously off the track, so doing that in a race is not really my style. Maybe taking that pressure off and having a bit more fun with it and not adding more pressure to a big race than normal will be a help.”

Nuttall will take to the track on Saturday, 4 October for the final of his event and with a high-class field and no heats to negotiate, he knows he will have to be on top of his game in India as he chases his first global medal.

Although defending champion Hristiyan Stoyanov of Bulgaria and experienced Australian Michael Roeger are both absent, two-time Paralympic champion Aleksandr Iaremchuk will pose a big danger along with Frenchman Antoine Praud.

“I know I am talented enough and good enough to get a medal at this level and realistically now, I think I should be winning these championships, but it is a whole other thing to go and do it. However, a medal would be a big step forward,” says the Briton.

“With the 1500m I need to have various race scenarios ready in my head and it is always focussed around my strengths, which is probably my racing strength, but the nature of championship running means you don’t know how the race will be run so you have to be ready for anything.

“The way my season has gone with missing a chunk of training and the temperatures in India mean a straight final probably benefits me physically, but I’m looking forward to getting out there and racing.”