A BOURNEMOUTH canoeist will go for gold in the Paralympics today.

Multiple world champion Jack Eyers will take to the water in Paris on Friday, September 6 at the Vaires-sur-Marne Stadium.

The 35-year-old is an above-the-knee amputee, having decided to have his leg amputated aged 16.

He has since forged a career in modelling, a Mr England crown and has secured two world titles in para-canoe.

Eyers began canoeing at Poole Harbour Canoe Club, at which he has been given honorary life membership, before going through the British Canoeing talent pathway.

He has gone on to win two world championships.

Born with proximal femoral focal deficiency (PFFD), which affected his hip, knee and femur, Eyers was advised to wait until he was 18 to have his leg amputated, but convinced doctors to do it two years earlier.

He played wheelchair basketball for GB juniors but quit the sport to focus on his personal trainer career and his business, which worked with other amputees and people with physical impairments.

He was then contacted by Models of Diversity, a charity which campaigns for greater diversity in modelling, leading him to be crowned the first amputee Mr England in 2017.

In the same year, he joined the GB para-canoe programme, with his category, VL3, making its Paralympic bow in Tokyo, although Eyers missed out on selection.

But Eyers didn’t let this setback knock him back, winning the world championships in 2021 and 2022.

He narrowly missed out on retaining his title in May, but taking silver shows he is in the frame for top honours in Paris.

Three days of canoe competition gets underway on Friday.