All of the world’s top boccia players have now arrived in Seoul, South Korea, as the World Boccia Championships take place from August 24th – 4th September. Scotland’s Stephen McGuire will be making the trip and having won a medal in all of his tournaments so far in 2026, he is excited about competing on one of boccia’s biggest stages.
Stephen a gold medal winner at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, and the 2016 World Boccia Championships, is ready to reclaim his title in Seoul. Making a name for himself as one of the top players in the sport over the past two decades, currently being ranked as both the Individual and Pairs BC4 world number one. He is focusing on having a podium finish at the World Championships.
Stephen’s route to world number one hasn’t been easy, with serious injuries threatening to call time on the generational talents career four years ago. However, with support from sportscotland experts, his game has reached a new level.
Forming the other half of the dynamic BC4 Pairs team, is England’s Sophie Newnham, and with the World Boccia Championships being held in the KSPO Dome, they have fond memories of the World Boccia Challenger event that took place there last year, where they won BC4 Pairs gold.
Stephen said: “Going in so highly ranked, we have to go in hoping to reach the podium. We should be hoping to have a good week.”
“To win the World Championships would mean an awful lot, it really would, it is one of the hardest tournaments to win, it has all of the world’s best playing in it.”
“Me and Sophie are quite a new paring, as she has just come on to the programme this cycle, so we’re getting used to each other.
"But we are currently ranked world number one, which is just tremendous. Last year we won every gold medal going, which is a good start.”
Having played boccia for over 20 years, the 2026 edition of the World Boccia Championships will mark the sixth time that Stephen has played in the quadrennial competition. This level of consistency is testament to the dedication that Stephen has shown to the sport. all top athletes have a team around them, and for Stephen this includes sportscotland’s Institute of Sport’s Physio Therapist Jesse Costello and Performance Preparation Coach Adam Sinclair.
In 2022 a freak accident resulted in a possible career defining injury, when Stephen fell off his chair, and broke his knee and femur. To support Stephen throughout this rehabilitation process, he was supported by sportscotland experts, who coordinated services, kept in regular contact with Stephen, attended surgeon appointments, and worked as part of a multi-disciplinary team, Stephen commented: “At that point we were unsure if I could even get back playing competitively.”
“Looking back, and having physio around me, a strength and conditioning team, and nutritional support from sportscotland, was just so needed at the time.”
“If I had to sum it up in one word, to say what sportscotland has given me, I would say confidence.”
This injury put Stephen’s hopes of competing at the Paris Paralympics into doubt, where due to time spent off the court, Stephen dropped down the world rankings. Originally not included in ParalympicsGB’s squad for the Paralympics, Stephen gained access through a bipartite slot (an invitation from the International Paralympics Committee, and a sport’s International Federation, that can go out to athletes for several reasons, such as a high performing athlete missing out on entry through standard routes, due to injuries).
For Stephen, it didn’t matter how he qualified, he had an opportunity to compete for a Paralympic medal, the one medal he hadn’t won at the time. He said: “Winning that Paralympic gold in Paris, was not the result of one perfect week, it was the result of preparation and resilience.”
“I was so calm in that final, for me it was about getting that Paralympic medal, and when you have had three fourth finishes before that, and had never got over the line, I was guaranteed a medal in the final.”
Having won BC4 Individual gold at the Paris Paralympics, Stephen is looking at what is next for him and partner Sophie, saying: “I am dialed in for Los Angeles 2028, particularly in the pairs event, it’s the only medal which I’ve not got in my cabinet, a Paralympic Pairs Medal.”
In June of 2026 Jesse Costello accompanied Stephen and other Scottish boccia players to Kazakhstan, for the Boccia World Cup circuit. At the event, Jesse helped Stephen navigate pain developed through a demanding travel schedule and an issue with his chair, on route to Sophie and him winning BC4 Pairs gold “There was soreness and fatigue and having someone like Jesse who understands me as a person with a disability, and performance sport is just incredible.” Stephen said.
As well as being supported by sportscotland’s expert practitioners, Stephen and other British boccia players often train out of sportscotland’s National Sports Training Centre Inverclyde, Stephen commented: “It’s my favourite place in the world, I really love Largs, Inverclyde Sports Centre, because it’s fully adapted for us, we’re the athletes with the most severe disability in the Paralympics, so every room is fully accessible, every room has a wet room. If it’s raining, you don’t even need to go outside, you just go downstairs and train."
