Alexandra Rickham

Alexandra Rickham

Personal information
Nationality	British / Jamaican
Born	(1981-09-11) 11 September 1981 Kingston, Jamaica
Sport
Sailing career
Club	Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy
Medal record Sailing Representing  Great Britain Paralympic Games 2012 London Mixed Two Person SKUD18 2016 Rio Mixed Two Person SKUD18 Para World Sailing Championships 2015 Para World Sailing Championships Mixed Two Person SKUD18

Alexandra Rickham (born 11 September 1981) is a British Paralympic sailor and leader in sustainability within sport.

Rickham was born on 11 September 1981 in Kingston, Jamaica, before attending boarding school in the UK from the age of 12.¹²³ She is a tetraplegic athlete who became disabled as a result of a shallow diving accident in 1995.² Rickham cites Sylvia Earle as an inspiring role model for her climate and ocean advocacy work continuing even in her 9th decade.⁴

Rickham competed in the 2008 Paralympic Sailing Competition in the SKUD 18 two person keelboat class, where she finished in fifth place. In 2011 following back to back IFDS World Championship wins she was shortlisted by the International Sailing Federation for the ISAF World Sailor of the Year Awards.

Rickham was selected to represent Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics held in London, United Kingdom. She competed in the SKUD 18 - 2 person keelboat event, alongside teammate Niki Birrell.⁵ The duo started strongly, winning two of the first five races, but form slipped slightly in the later races but their performance was still good enough to win the bronze medal.⁶ In 2015 with the same crew Rickham won silver in the Para World Sailing Championships.⁷ Rickham has 5 consecutive World titles in partnership with Birrell, maintaining a number 1 ranking for 6 years⁸

Rickham undertook a degree in Natural Sciences at the University of Bath with an initial focus on biology before switching specialisms to environmental studies and graduating in 2004.³ She followed this with a Masters in Environmental Technology at Imperial College, her dissertation title was Carbon Neutrality on the Isle of Man as an Example of an Island State³.

Rickham was a consultant at Earth to Ocean working first as a consultant and then as their Diversity and Impact manager setting up SailGPs sustainability programme⁹. In 2022 Rickham was appointed Director of Sustainability at World Sailing, with a remit to lead their sustainability agenda 2030⁹, in 2024 she was appointed as Technical Delegate for Paris 2024¹⁰. Rickham is an Ambassador for Ecoathletes and serves on their advisory board¹¹.