Benjamin Hance

Benjamin "Ben" Hance (born 25 July 2000) is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. At the 2020 Summer Paralympics, he won a gold and bronze medal. He has a been selected to compete at the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris, France.

Swimming career
He is classified as a S14 swimmer. In 2021, Hance holds the world record for the Men's 100 m Backstroke (S14) by swimming a time of 58.88 (1019 points) at the 2021 Australian Multi-Class Swimming Championships.

At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, Hance won the gold medal in the Men's 100 m backstroke S14 with a personal best time of 57.73. He also won a bronze medal in the Men's 100 m butterfly S14 with a time of 56.90, less than 2 seconds behind the winner, Gabriel Bandeira from Brazil.

At the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships, Madeira, Hance won four medals - gold in the Men's 100m Backstroke S14, silver in Mixed 4 × 100 m freestyle relay S14 and Mixed 4 × 100 m medley relay S14 and bronze in the Men's 200 m Freestyle S14 In the medley he teamed up with Madeleine McTernan, Ricky Betar, and Ruby Storm. They won the silver medal with a time of 3:46.38, just under 6 seconds behind the winners, Great Britain, who set a world record. He did not medal in two other events.

At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, he won the silver medal in the 200 m freestyle S14. At the 2023 World Para Swimming Championships, Manchester, England, he won four medals - 2 gold, one silver and one bronze medal.

In 2023, Hance is coached by Ashley Delaney at St Andrews on the Sunshine Coast. He was previously coached by Nathan Doyle.

Recognition

 * 2021 - AIS Discovery of the Year at Swimming Australia Awards
 * 2022 – Medal of the Order of Australia for service to sport as a gold medallist at the Tokyo Paralympic Games 2020