From rivals to team-mates - Ball links up with Pope

Published7 hours ago

Henry VIII famously had six wives during his time on the throne.

While Para-cyclist James Ball has had a more harmonious time with his pilots than the former king had with his spouses, he too is on to his sixth partner, Aaron Pope.

Ball will be hoping for a better relationship with this Pope than Henry VIII had with the papacy!

Three months ago, Ball and Pope were rivals at the Commonwealth Games, where the latter piloted Neil Fachie to two golds in Glasgow.

Ball and Matt Rotherham, meanwhile, settled for silver in the men's tandem B 1,000m time trial and the men's sprint.

Now they are team-mates rather than opponents, Pope will aim to help Ball retain the world titles he won with Steffan Lloyd in 2025.

"It's not me, I promise," jokes Ball as he announces his latest new partnership.

"I'm now with Aaron, so that's been a lot of learning and that's quite important because it's like a proper reset.

"It's like when I had Steff Lloyd for Paris [Paralympics 2024]. It was a whole new exciting time to be on the bike together. We're looking forward to seeing what we can do now."

Ball's first taste of world championship glory came with two golds in Los Angeles in 2017 alongside Rotherham, with whom he won the 1km time trial and sprint events.

And the Californian city is again on the horizon as it hosts the Paralympics in 2028.

For the moment, the focus is the Para-cycling Track World Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, which start on Thursday.

"This world championships would be a good place to see where we're at and where the rest of the world is," Ball said.

"We've got the big one next year in Paris to sort of solidify our place for LA [Paralympics 2028]."

While the partnership is in its relative infancy, Ball says there have been some nerves as they ready themselves for action.

"I think he [Pope] was quite nervous at the start as well and obviously he wanted to prove that he was good enough sort of thing," Ball said.

"But if you're on the programme, you're good enough. Training's been good and it's completely different with every pilot, the way they approach training and how we gel together.

"It doesn't take me very long to realise if it's working or not so it's really good to see. I feel like I'm teaching him some things even though he's way better than me power-wise, but it's nice to show some of my experience to him."

Ball, 35, has embraced the positivity that can come with change.

"Paris [Paralympics 2024] was the crowning moment of what I've achieved and I was like, how can this get any better?" he said.

"Changing pilots all the time keeps it fresh though, especially for me.

"If we had the same tandem partnership, I feel like you'd find it hard to always progress those goals. I feel like every [new] pilot is like fresh air and a reset."

James Ball's pilots

Craig McLean

Craig McLean

Matt Rotherham

Matt Rotherham

Pete Mitchell

Pete Mitchell

Lewis Stewart

Lewis Stewart

Steffan Lloyd

Steffan Lloyd

Aaron Pope

Aaron Pope

A new cycle brings fresh competition for Ball and Pope.

While the duo develop their chemistry on the bike, Ball says he has not put too much pressure on results in the Netherlands.

"If there's any mistakes and stuff, then brush them off," he said.

"We know a lot of learning is going to be done at this world championships because we've got a lot of the big, heavy-hitting bikes coming as well, some we've never even seen before."

Ball, however, says competition is good for the growth of the sport.

"We've looked and there's so many more tandems on the start list now, which is great," he added.

"There's two Australian bikes now, two German bikes, the French as well.

"We've got a lot who we've raced before, but obviously that was two years ago. We don't know what everyone's form is like but this year will be the year that everyone's going to put a time down, just to show what they can do, and then build on that over the next two years."

Ball has medalled at all nine of his previous world championships, with a haul of four bronzes, six silvers and eight golds.

He also has five silvers and a gold at three Commonwealth Games, a Paralympic silver medal in 2021 and two golds in Paris in 2024.

But the hunger remains for the Ponthir native, who feels there's plenty more to achieve in the sport.

"Another Commonwealth gold would be nice, that would be good," he said. "I think defending my Paris Paralympics title too. Unfortunately they've taken out the kilo (1km time trial), so to win the sprint then in LA, that will be a big moment for me.

"We don't know what the situation is like in Brisbane [for the 2032 Paralympics]. We're hoping, fingers crossed, they bring back more sprinter events specifically."

And with his long-term rival Fachie finally calling time on his career at 42 years old this summer, it stands to reason Ball could keep going.

"To have this much time being an elite athlete, it's incredible," he said.

"I still feel great. I think I'll know myself [if it is time to retire] before my performance [shows it]. But yeah, I have absolutely no thought of stopping any time soon."

The World Para Track Cycling Championships take place at the Omnisport Apeldoorn Velodrome in Apeldoorn, Netherlands from 29 October-1 November.

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