Feature
:no_upscale())
Born with bilateral talipes, more commonly known as club feet. Briggs underwent 19 surgeries between the ages of three months and 10 years old to straighten his feet. Even now, he has very limited movement in both ankles and still deals with pain and inflammation from impact. As a child, it meant spending long periods on crutches or in a wheelchair while watching others run around the playground.
:no_upscale())
:no_upscale())
:no_upscale())
“I couldn’t just go run around and play tag with everyone else.”
Sport was difficult too.
His surgeon told him impact sports were off limits, so Briggs spent years trying different activities without finding something that really clicked. Then a chance encounter changed everything. While riding his mountain bike during rehab near the local velodrome, a bike shop mechanic suggested he give track cycling a go.
He’s been hooked ever since.
"Cycling gave me freedom," Briggs says. "I could get on a bike and do what everyone else was doing without my disability holding me back."
For the first time, he found something where he didn’t feel limited by his impairment and something he was genuinely good at.
That passion eventually led him into high performance sport, where he was introduced to other para-athletes competing at an elite level. It opened his eyes to what was possible.
:no_upscale())
:no_upscale())
:no_upscale())
“I got to see people with all different disabilities doing the same thing I was doing,” he says. “It made me realise we can compete on the world stage on an even playing field.”
Now, Briggs is a Paralympian, two-time world champion and 12-time world medallist preparing to represent New Zealand at the first-ever Commonwealth Games to feature para cycling.
Competing in the C3 classification, Briggs races against athletes with similar lower limb impairments, including amputees and athletes with fused ankles. In Glasgow, he will line up in both the 1km time trial and the 3km individual pursuit.
“You can’t stop pedalling,” he laughs. “You’ve got no gears and no brakes.”
While his early motivation came from wanting to prove others wrong, Briggs says his perspective has changed over time.
“Now it’s more about being a role model for other people with disabilities and showing there’s always an option to participate in sport.”
That message is important to him, especially because disability is not always visible. Briggs says he is often questioned when using mobility parks because people assume he is “too young” or “doesn’t look disabled.”
He hopes greater visibility for para sport can help challenge some of those assumptions.
:no_upscale())
:no_upscale())
:no_upscale())
“But we put in just as much work, if not more, overcoming barriers and expectations while also performing on the world stage.”
Briggs experienced that world stage firsthand in Glasgow during the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships, where para and able-bodied events were combined.
“Everybody absolutely loved it,” he says. “We got to race alongside the able-bodied riders but also support each other as one team.”
That experience has made him even more excited for Glasgow 2026 and what it represents for para sport within the Commonwealth Games movement.
“We’re setting a stepping stone for para sport,” he says. “I think it’s really cool to be part of that.”
The road to competing in major Games has not always been straightforward. Just weeks before the 2024 Summer Paralympics, Briggs was hit by a motorbike while racing in Switzerland, fracturing his sacrum and dislocating his coccyx. Despite doctors telling him he would not make it back in time, he managed to recover and compete at Paris 2024.
Looking ahead now, Briggs hopes the lead-in to the LA 2028 Summer Paralympic Games is a little less eventful.
“I want LA to be as smooth and clean as possible,” he says. “I want to get to the start line fit and healthy so I can put my best foot forward on race day.”
Outside of cycling, Briggs enjoys coaching at the velodrome and teaching at the Hamilton Pistol Club, helping others build confidence and learn new skills. Whether he’s racing or coaching, helping people feel included remains one of the things he enjoys most.
:no_upscale())