TWO athletes living with with sight loss were crowned athletes of the year at the Gwynedd Sports Awards.

Nick Thomas, 47, from Talysarn, Dyffryn Nantlle, is registered blind and works for the North Wales Society of the Blind in Bangor.

Nick has had a condition called Stargardt since he was 18, and has played football for England's partially-sighted team.

In September, he won a gold medal at the World Para-Archery Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.

Last Friday (December 5) he won the 'Senior Athlete of the Year' at the Gwynedd Byw’n Iach Sports Awards 2025 at Galeri, Caernarfon.

Swimmer Ela Letton-Jones, 19, from Y Felinheli, a student at Manchester Met College, won the 'Senior Female Athlete of the Year'.

Ela is registered blind with albinism, having a lack of pigmentation in the body.

Ela won a silver medal at the World Para Swimming Championship in Singapore in September representing Britain.

Nick said: "You don't reach the top of the tree without doing the work in the first place. This is the third consecutive year I have made the short list at the awards. The previous two years I lost to someone who had won a world championship in one sport or another.

"It is a privilege to win the competition – I know the level of sports in Gwynedd is very high. We have a lot of very talented athletes.

“As a person living with sight loss but who doesn't let it control what I do or don't do - it was amazing to see that the athlete of the year winners were people with sight loss.

“It was a pleasure to share the stage with Ela and see the hard work that athletes with visual impairments put in and receive recognition."

Nick is now preparing to compete in next year's European Para-Shooting Championships with the hope of becoming both world and European champion.

Ela said: "I didn't expect to win. “It was some kind of recognition of all the work and long hours I've put in at the pool over the past year. It was nice to be able to celebrate with everyone from Byw’n Iach.

“There are lots of competitions around the world and it's nice to see how much talent there is in Gwynedd.

“We were sitting right next to Nick and it was nice to talk to him normally at first and then realise that we both live with a sight loss.

“It just shows that whatever kind of difficulties you have, one can succeed.”

Ela hopes to compete in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028 and represent Wales in the Commonwealth Games next year.