At the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, two sisters will stand at opposite ends of the same starting blocks — and cheer each other on. Astrid Carroll, 17, was born in Edinburgh and swims for Scotland. Her younger sister Ursula, 14, was born in Halifax and represents England. On Friday morning, they will race each other in the women's 100m freestyle S13 heats, marking the first time these siblings have ever competed against one another.
"We've swam together almost most of my life anyway, but it will be nice to be competing against you," Ursula tells her sister. Astrid grins back: "It'll be nice walking out and just seeing you."
The sisters both live with Stargardt disease, a rare inherited eye condition that causes progressive loss of central vision. Astrid describes what she sees: "It's basically like seeing through a doughnut or like bubble wrap." Over Covid, her vision worsened, making the return to the pool especially difficult. Working alongside coaches at Stockport Metro Swimming Club, Astrid has developed clever workarounds. She counts her strokes to know when to turn at the wall, and she now uses "tappers" — teammates who tap her on the head when she needs to flip. "It's just adapting the coaching techniques to being less visual and more getting very good at verbally describing what you want," she explains.
Ursula, who was diagnosed with the same condition at eight years old, says her older sister has been essential to her journey in the sport. "It's really, really helpful just being around you generally because it just makes me push myself as much as you push yourself," she tells Astrid. "I can almost use you as a resource."
Astrid has already built an impressive record. At last year's Para-swimming World Championships in Singapore, she brought home silver and bronze medals. But she hints that Ursula might have the edge in freestyle events. "Sadly, Ursula is better at front crawl, so I might have to settle," Astrid jokes. Ursula laughs: "This is news to me!"
Their family has been brainstorming how to handle the divided loyalties. "I think our grandparents were talking about wearing a T-shirt with the Scottish flag on the front and the English flag on the back," Astrid says. Ursula smirks: "Why is the English on the back?"
The sisters will make their international debuts for their respective nations in Glasgow. For Astrid, the milestone is about transforming their lifelong bond into something fierce and fun. "Both of us are really looking forward to getting in and racing and being able to turn that non-competitive sibling thing into 'let's get into the pool and race a good race!'" Ursula adds with a grin: "It's going to be really interesting going against you. We'll just have to see about it."